two-hour launch window opening at 5:16 pm
(NASA) – NASA is preparing to launch NOAA’s GOES-U, a mission to help improve weather observing and environmental monitoring capabilities on Earth, as well as advance space weather observations.
NASA and SpaceX are targeting a two-hour launch window opening at 5:16 pm EDT Tuesday, June 25.
The mission will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The satellite will carry a suite of instruments for advanced imagery, atmospheric measurements, real-time mapping of lightning activity, and detecting approaching space weather hazards, including a new compact coronagraph that will image the outer layer of the Sun’s atmosphere to detect and characterize coronal mass ejections.
As the fourth and final satellite in the GOES-R Series, GOES-U will enhance the nation’s ability to monitor and forecast weather, ocean, and environmental dynamics in real time.
The satellite has seven instruments that will provide advanced imagery and atmospheric measurements of Earth’s Western Hemisphere, real-time mapping of lightning activity, and advanced monitoring of solar activity and space weather. Following a successful launch and on-orbit checkout, NOAA will redesignate GOES-U as GOES-19.
Working in tandem with GOES-18, the satellites will continuously observe Earth from the west coast of Africa to New Zealand, providing data for weather forecasting, severe storm tracking, and environmental monitoring. The GOES constellation helps protect the one billion people who live and work in the Americas.
NASA and NOAA collaborate on various missions to enhance our understanding of Earth, its climate, and its environment, enhancing the safety and well-being of all humanity. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, manages the launch service for the GOES-U mission.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, oversees the acquisition of the spacecraft and instruments.
Lockheed Martin designs, builds, and tests the GOES-R series satellites. L3Harris Technologies provides the primary instrument, the Advanced Baseline Imager, along with the ground system, which includes the antenna system for data reception.
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