Weather: the next generation
The United States maintains a network of 3 weather satellites in the skies above it – one watches each coast and a third sits in reserve to provide extra data in the event of dangerous situations or equipment malfunction on the 2 active satellites. This program’s devices are called “Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites” and therefore receive the name GOES, with various letters and numbers added to keep track of the order that they launched in.
Right now, the oldest of the operational satellites, GOES-13, has been monitoring the US East Coast for half a decade, after being launched in 2006 with a planned 10 year lifespan. GOES-13 has had several mechanical issues already, including being knocked temporarily out of contact a few years ago by a micrometeorite strike. So, it’s about time for a new instrument to take it’s place, and like replacing a 10 year old computer, modern engineering can do better.
This rocket holds the next satellite in the GOES series, named GOES-R for now until calibration steps are completed and it is activated as a full time monitoring station. Weather reports for today are positive, suggesting this Atlas rocket will likely launch from Cape Canaveral Air Station later today. The launch window starts at 5:42 EST.
Compared to the previous generation of GOES satellites, this satellite will basically be dumping atmospheric data to the planet’s surface. At present, it takes about 25 minutes for one of the GOES satellites to image a full hemisphere: GOES-R will do so in 5. It will also measure 16 different spectral wavelengths compared to only 5 on the current satellites – more spectral channels will provide more data on both weather and other atmospheric conditions, including different types of air pollution (something that matters to this asthmatic writer). The imaging system resolution will also be 4x that of the current generation of satellites.
On top of that, it will carry instruments never before deployed on weather satellites, including a lightning sensor that will allow real time tracking of lightning during severe weather. Finally, there will also be sun-observing instruments that provide more active data on Earth’s magnetic field and solar activity, providing an additional layer of protection against solar flares for electronic systems.
A couple years ago the Japanese Weather Agency launched the Himawari-8 Satellite and I still haven’t gotten tired of seeing its HD frames of weather events in the Pacific and the global overlook perspective it offers. They’ve even set up the satellite to automatically share video clips of its views online through social media, which is just delightful. Starting today, the United States will be catching up, and I hope they’re as forthcoming with the images as the Himawari images.
-JBB
Image credit: NASA https://twitter.com/NASA/status/799965318835765248 References: https://blogs.nasa.gov/goes-r/ http://www.goes-r.gov/downloads/tri-brochure.pdf http://www.goes-r.gov/spacesegment/instruments.html
To watch the launch: http://www.ulalaunch.com/ http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/#public
