NASA Launches GOES-U Satellite for Weather and Solar Storm Monitoring

By siliconindia  |  Wednesday, 26 June 2024, 12:47:46 PM IST

NASA Launches GOES-U Satellite for Weather and Solar Storm Monitoring
NASA achieved a successful launch of the GOES-U (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U), aimed at monitoring both terrestrial weather and space weather, including large solar storms.
The GOES-U satellite, the fourth and final in the GOES-R series developed jointly by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), was launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 5:26 pm ET.
Upon reaching geostationary orbit, which will take approximately two weeks, the satellite will be renamed GOES-19.
"NOAA’s GOES-U is on its way to geostationary orbit, where it’ll assist in the study of weather on Earth and in space”, NASA announced on social media.
GOES-U is equipped with a suite of seven advanced instruments designed to collect imagery, atmospheric measurements, and real-time mapping of lightning activity. Additionally, it features a compact coronagraph for observing the Sun’s corona to monitor plasma explosions that could lead to geomagnetic solar storms.
Operating at an altitude of approximately 35,700 km above Earth, GOES-U will provide weather forecasters and climate researchers with high-resolution imagery for earlier detection of severe weather events, enhancing capabilities in tropical cyclone forecasting.
Together with NOAA, NASA continues to advance the development of Geostationary Extended Observations, the next generation of operational satellites in geostationary orbit.
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, also celebrated the successful delivery of the new weather satellite.

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