NOAA Weather Satellite Launched to Further Improve Weather Forecasting

The fourth and final spacecraft of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R series was launched into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket Tuesday. 

Dubbed GOES-U and set to be called GOES-19 after it reaches geostationary orbit, the satellite is equipped with a Compact Coronagraph instrument for the observation of sun flares and ejections affecting space weather. The spacecraft will take over the sun monitoring function from the  Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, which is almost 30 years in service, SpaceNews reported Wednesday.

Weather forecasts have improved significantly as a result of observations from the first three GOES-R satellites, according to meteorologists. Ken Graham, NOAA’s National Weather Service director, called the spacecraft series a “game-changer,” with the new weather forecast features it enabled since the initial GOES-R launch in 2016.   

One of the capabilities that the GOES-R series has delivered is a lightning mapper that provides meteorologists data for a better look at storms’ severity and the capability to issue appropriate warnings, Pam Sullivan, NOAA director of the GOES-R program, said.

Lockheed Martin, which built the program’s satellites, has also secured a NASA contract to develop the Geostationary Extended Observations spacecraft, NOAA’s next-generation geostationary weather satellites, which will continue the GOES-R weather observations.