Best US weather satellite ever awaits nighttime launch

Once GOES-R becomes operational, it will also keep watch over the space environment around Earth, helping scientists on the planet forecast potentially risky impacts from solar storms impacting the planet.

Tucked away in its fairing is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s GOES-R satellite, which is the first in a series that will improve views of severe storms and overall weather forecasting.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have packed the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R (GOES-R) full of scientific instruments that will improve weather prediction around the United States and in space.

“GOES-R will be revolutionary with faster, more accurate forecasts and more lives saved”. “The hurricane researchers and forecasters are really excited about what they’ll be able to see.to not only help, maybe, reduce the cone of uncertainty (in a hurricane’s path), but be better able to forecast changes in intensity”. The launch was delayed in October due to Hurricane Matthew, and again earlier in November because of a rocket booster issue.

About 50 meteorologists from across the U.S. converged on the launch site including with 8,000 space program workers.

Large and small scale weather features will be monitored in higher resolution, giving us better immediate data, but also better data to be fed back into weather models, to help predict future weather patterns and events.

“It’s fantastic the information we are going to get from the GOES-R”. Once in geostationary orbit, GOES-R will be known as GOES-16. NOAA will host a live broadcast of the launch.

Scans of the Western Hemisphere, from the North Pole to the South Pole, will be collected five times faster – in just five minutes. This instrument will photograph lightning activity throughout the Western Hemisphere about 200 times every second, NOAA officials said.

The $11-billion next-generation GOES program includes four satellites, an extensive land system of satellite dishes and other equipment, and new methods for crunching the massive, non-stop stream of expected data.

Air Force Weather officials said there is a 90 percent chance for good conditions during the launch window.

The current GOES series of satellites observes the Earth at five different spectral bands, called “channels”, of energy – one channel covers sunlight reflection, and four channels probe different levels of thermal radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface and atmosphere.

These solar storms can impact power grids, telecommunications and Global Positioning System, interrupting the everyday lives of people around the globe.

When that happens, GOES-16 will take on the name of its predecessor. The Japanese have been using this technology for the last two years. Dr Keogh added: “Having a satellite view, rather than relying on ground-based observations, will be a real game changer for those weather and climate scientists who are interested in lightning and the production of nitrogen-oxide gases”.