On Tuesday June 25, 2024, the American space agency (NASA) successfully launched the GOES-U satellite for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Liftoff took place at 5:26 p.m. (American time – 11:26 p.m. in France) in Florida from the Kennedy Space Center aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.
GOES, a 50-year-old mission
Abbreviation of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (Geostationary Operational Satellites for the Environment), the GOES mission began in 1975.
Indeed, on the page dedicated to this mission, on the NASA website, we learn that for almost 50 years, the different satellites of this mission “have continuously provided images and data on atmospheric conditions and solar activity.”
A valuable tool for NASA, but also and above all for meteorologists who were able to make more precise forecasts concerning the weather on a day-to-day basis, but also in the longer term to predict climatic developments.
To date, and since 1975, 20 satellites have been launched and 19 have reached their orbit, the current series which has just ended is that of GOES-R which began in 2016. Then followed the GOES-S launches ( 2018), GOES-T (2022) and finally GOES-U (2024).
GOES-U, the latest addition to an essential constellation
With GOES-U, the GOES mission therefore has five satellites available for a crucial mission according to the words of Bill Nelson, the administrator of the American space agency, relayed in the NASA press release:
“As communities across the country and around the world feel the effects of extreme weather, satellites like GOES-U are closely monitoring these conditions in real time. NASA and NOAA have worked together for several decades to bring critical data back to Earth to prepare for severe storms, fire detection and more. This fleet of advanced satellites builds resilience to a changing climate and protects humanity from weather risks on Earth and in space.”
From the side of the director of the satellite division of the joint agency of NASA, John Gagosian, the GOES and GOES-U satellites in particular will be essential for the general public in the sense that, thanks to the future resources collected by the last satellite of the mission, the meteorologists and “forecasters will be able to inform and educate the public in the best possible way.”
A radius of action and observation concentrated on the West
The particularity of the GOES mission satellites is that they concentrate their observations on certain areas of the Earth, more or less enlarged. Thus, based on the press release from the American space agency, GOES-U, soon to be renamed GOES-19 when it arrives in geostationary orbit of the Earth (approximately 36,000 km), will monitor North America, Mexico and Central America, South America, the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean to the west coast of Africa.
According to NOAA, the data collected by GOES-U will only be available to scientists from 2030. The satellite will operate in tandem with its predecessor GOES-18 which previously covered the Eastern zone.
Source: NASA / NOAA
