Lockheed Delivers Final Satellite for NOAA Weather Forecasting Constellation

Lockheed Martin announced that it has shipped the last of four weather satellites for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R network to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Named GOES-U, the next-generation spacecraft is undergoing preparations by Astrotech Space Operations ahead of a planned launch starting in April 2024, Lockheed said Wednesday.

U.S. meteorologists rely on GOES-R satellites to obtain clear and early images of environmental hazards such as storms and wildfires. Jagdeep Shergill, Lockheed’s Geo Weather programs director, explained that the constellation keeps people safe amid an increase in severe weather incidents caused by climate change.

In a press release, the company noted that GOES-U carries seven space and Earth weather instruments, including a coronagraph developed by the Naval Research Laboratory to study the sun’s coronal mass ejections.

After the GOES-R program concludes, NOAA is expected to move on to the Geostationary Extended Observations Satellite System to continue developing weather observation capabilities. Lockheed’s space division and Maxar Technologies secured $5 million contracts in 2022 to conceptualize spacecraft designs for GeoXO.