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Narrator: NOAA is preparing for a milestone satellite launch in 2024.
GOES-U will be the fourth and final satellite in NOAA’s latest generation of
geostationary operational environmental satellites called the GOES-R
Series - the nations’s most advanced weather-observing and
environmental monitoring satellite system.
GOES satellites orbit 22,236 miles above Earth’s equator,
at speeds equal to its rotation.
This orbit provides continuous coverage of weather systems as they
develop and move across the Western Hemisphere.
Narrator: GOES-U, which will be renamed GOES-19 when it reaches
orbit, will replace the current GOES-16 satellite in the GOES East orbit.
In this position, GOES-U will continue GOES East’s legacy of keeping
watch over the contiguous United States, Central and South America, and
the Atlantic Ocean.
Like the three other GOES-R Series satellites already in orbit, GOES-U will
provide near real-time, high-resolution imagery that will deliver critical
information for weather forecasts, severe weather prediction, lightning detection,
space weather and tropical cyclones spinning in the Atlantic basin.
Ken Graham: It’s going to be great when, you know, when we get into the orbit of GOES-East
because you’ll be able to see, you know, we start seeing the continental United States,
but also out into the Atlantic, to the African coast because if you think
about it , working at the Hurricane Center as I did, you need to be able to
see some of the earliest initiation of some of these tropical systems.
Narrator: And like the rest of the GOES-R Series satellites, GOES-U will
include the Advanced Baseline Imager, or ABI.
It is the primary instrument NOAA uses to image Earth’s weather, climate,
oceans and the environment from geostationary orbit.
Pam Sullivan: Yeah, ABI really rocks. Um. ABI is the primary camera on
the GOES-R Series. Umm, and it has a very large focal plane.
And what that does for the instrument is it can look at very wide areas of Earth.
And so, because it can do that, it can scan very, very fast.
What that means for the forecasters is they can look at a storm or other area
of interest as often as once every 30 seconds.
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And when you can do it that fast, you know, the forecasters are
really seeing that data in real time.
Ken Graham: Yeah, the early detection is everything and having the
instrumentation, and especially the rapid scan.
To be able to have information quickly.
Ah, because we have something that is such a challenge called
rapid intensification where a hurricane’s just a band of clouds
becomes a strong system so quickly.
So, the more information and the more data we get, the quicker
that we get that information, the better we can do making that forecast and
getting that information into the models for a better forecast.
So, having that rapid information and clarity that we’re getting in the new
instrumentation, it’s just a game changer for the forecasters.
Narrator: And along with the other GOES-R Series satellites, GOES-U will
have the Geostationary Lightning Mapper, or G L M. The first operational
lightning mapper flown in geostationary orbit.
GLM identifies the location, frequency and extent of lightning over the
Americas and surrounding waters, which can help forecasters understand
how thunderstorms and tropical cyclones may be changing in intensity.
And since its inclusion as a part of the GOES-R Series satellites, GLM has
continued to provide new insights.
Pam Sullivan: We found it could actually distinguish between sort of your
average lightning strike and the ones that are more dangerous, the ones
that are continuing current, and those are very long lightning strikes that
are most likely to cause a fire.
Ken Graham: Having technology in the GOES satellite, whether it’s
GOES-R or GOES-U and future technology, early detection is everything.
And we think about a satellite, the first thing you think of is, is a cloud.
We see more than clouds. And, and the lightning detection is a key to some
of our early warnings for the fire weather community.
So, a lightning strike in, in a dry area in a time of that year could cause a fire,
that’s an indicator to us that, that there could be a potential fire started..
Narrator: Along with the suite of instruments on board NOAA’s other
GOES-R Series satellites, GOES-U will carry something new when it
launches. A critical space weather instrument called the
Compact Coronagraph-1, or CCOR-1.
CCOR-1 will be the third solar instrument on the satellite and it will image
the outer layer of the Sun’s atmosphere.
Elsayed Talaat: The compact coronagraph is a solar telescope that blocks
the disc of the Sun, so the, the main ball of the Sun. So that we can look at
the fainter outer atmosphere of the Sun called the corona.
And that’s where extreme space weather events originate.
Narrator: Being able to monitor the Sun’s corona helps scientists detect and
characterize coronal mass ejections that can spark geomagnetic storms
here on Earth. Those are the costliest type of space weather events and can
widepsread damage to power grids, satellites, and communication and
navigation systems.
Elsayed Talaat: It’s very important for us to measure space weather effects
and be able to model and provide warnings, forecasts, and alerts..uh.
For space weather, uh, to protect our technological society.
Basically, extreme space weather can touch all aspects of our economy
and life and property here on Earth.
I’m extremely excited about the compact coronagraph that we’re going to
fly on the GOES-U satellite. This is a game-changer for our forecast
capabilities here at NOAA in the Space Weather Prediction Center.
Having that data allows us to more reliably predict when these large solar
storms are going, or how they propagate towards Earth and whether or not
they’re going to, uh, affect us here on Earth in a significant way.
Narrator: With CCOR-1 and six other high-tech instruments on board,
GOES-U will continue NOAA’s legacy to help scientists and forecasters
understand, monitor and predict our changing environment,
from the oceans to outer space.
The GOES Series of satellites supports NOAA’s mission to provide secure,
and timely access to global environmental data and information from
satellites and other sources to promote and protect the Nation’s security,
environment, economy, and quality of life.
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