{"id":980,"date":"2015-01-28T20:50:58","date_gmt":"2015-01-28T20:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wmo-sat.info\/satellite-user-readiness\/?p=980"},"modified":"2019-03-27T12:34:20","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T12:34:20","slug":"goes-r-basics-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wmo-sat.info\/satellite-user-readiness\/goes-r-basics-2\/","title":{"rendered":"GOES-R Series Basics"},"content":{"rendered":"

NOAA’s\u00a0Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites \u2013 R Series (GOES-R) is the Western Hemisphere’s most advanced weather-observing and environmental-monitoring system. GOES-R Series satellites will provide continuous imagery and atmospheric measurements of Earth\u2019s Western Hemisphere and space weather monitoring to provide critical atmospheric, hydrologic, oceanic, climatic, solar and space data. GOES-R Series environmental data products\u00a0improve\u00a0short-term weather forecasts, increase thunderstorm and tornado warning lead time, improve hurricane tracking and intensity forecasts, improve aviation flight route planning, provide data for long-term climate variability studies, and improve solar flare warnings for communications and navigation disruptions. The GOES-R Series also supports maritime forecasts, seasonal predictions, drought outlooks and space weather predictions. The GOES-R series (GOES-R, S, T, and U) will extend the availability of the operational GOES satellite system through 2036.<\/p>\n

The GOES-R satellite launched on November 19, 2016, at 6:42 p.m. EDT<\/strong> from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, aboard an Atlas V 541 rocket. View GOES-R launch videos<\/a>\u00a0and GOES-R launch images<\/a> on the program website. Read the GOES-R launch press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"GOES-R<\/a>

GOES-R lifted off at 6:42 p.m. EST on November 19, 2016 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41, aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 541 rocket. Credit: ULA<\/p><\/div>\n

GOES-R became GOES-16 once it reached geostationary orbit on November 29, 2016. After a series of maneuvers, conducted using the satellite’s hydrazine bipropellent thrusters (HBTs), GOES-16 placed itself in its designated 89.5 degree West longitude checkout location where it will undergo an extended checkout and validation phase of approximately one year.<\/p>\n

GOES-16 moved to 75.2 degrees west longitude and became NOAA’s operational GOES East satellite on December 18, 2017, replacing GOES-13.\u00a0<\/strong>From its operational location, GOES-16 is keeping watch over most of North America, including the continental United States and Mexico, as well as Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west coast of Africa. View details of GOES-16’s transition to operations.<\/a><\/p>\n

GOES-13 now resides in storage. GOES-14 will continue to be the on-orbit spare GOES satellite in the event of an anomaly or failure of GOES East or GOES West.<\/p>\n

GOES-S launched on March 1, 2018, at 5:02 p.m. EST<\/a> from\u00a0Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, aboard an Atlas V 541 rocket. <\/strong>The satellite was renamed GOES-17 when it reached geostationary orbit on March 12, 2018. After post-launch checkout and testing at 89.5 degrees west longitude, GOES-17 moved to 137.2 degrees west longitude in November 2018 and underwent additional testing in it’s operational location.\u00a0GOES-17\u00a0 became NOAA’s operational GOES West satellite on February 12, 2019<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0An operational GOES-17\u00a0gives NOAA two next-generation environmental satellites watching over the Western Hemisphere, from the west coast of Africa to New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\"GOES-S<\/a>

GOES-S launch<\/p><\/div>\n

View videos of the GOES-S launch <\/a>and photos of the GOES-S launch<\/a> on the program website.<\/p>\n

GOES-15 will continue to operate alongside GOES-17 through early July 2019 to allow for assessment of the performance of GOES-17 as the GOES West operational satellite. GOES-15 drifted from its operational location at 135 degrees west longitude to 128 west to eliminate radio frequency interference with GOES-17 at 137.2 west.<\/p>\n

\"spacecraft-with-instruments\"<\/a><\/p>\n

GOES-R series satellites’ environmental data products\u00a0 support short-term 1-2 day weather forecasts and severe storm watches and warnings, maritime forecasts, seasonal predictions, drought outlooks and space weather predictions.<\/p>\n