The GOES-R Series Plan, which is leading the effort to replace and upgrade NOAA's existing fleet of geostationary satellites that track severe weather across the United States, received a favorable appraisal conducted by an external team of aerospace experts of its preparations to launch the new series, beginning in late 2015.
"Severe weather was again a major story in America this year," said Mary Kicza, assistant administrator of NOAA's Satellite and Information Service. "Passing this Mission Critical Design Review gives us confidence that the GOES-R Program's development is progressing well and will be ready to carry the latest technology to help enhance NOAA's weather forecasts."
At all times, N.O.A.A. operates 2 Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites from a fixed position, 22,300 miles above the Earth. Additionally, N.O.A.A. keeps one GOES in orbital storage mode, ready to step in if one of the active satellites experiences trouble. NOAA's geostationary satellites constantly monitor all weather conditions, from tornadoes, floods and snowstorms, to wildfires and developing tropical storms. In addition to their weather duties, GOES satellites also monitor solar activity, relay a wide variety of environmental data from earth-based observing systems, and detect emergency beacon signals from persons in distress.
NOAA's GOES-13, which is the GOES East satellite, proved its mettle when Sandy threatened the Caribbean and the U.S., sending in excess of 1,200 images of the storm to N.O.A.A. forecasters, from October 20-31, as it approached -- and then impacted -- the Eastern seaboard.
N.O.A.A. manages the GOES-R Series Plan through an integrated NOAA-NASA Plan office, staffed with personnel from N.O.A.A. and NASA, and co-located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
The GOES-R satellites are expected to in excess of double the clarity of today's GOES imagery and provide more atmospheric observations than current capabilities with more frequent images. Data from the GOES-R instruments will be used to create many different products that will help N.O.A.A. meteorologists and other users monitor the atmosphere, land, ocean and the sun. GOES-R will also carry a new Geostationary Lightning Mapper that will provide for the 1st time a continuous surveillance of total lightning activity throughout the Americas and adjacent oceans.
"We're just a few years away from seeing significant enhancements in the way N.O.A.A. will serve the public with better weather forecasts and warnings," said Greg Mandt, director of the GOES-R Series Program. "That's something everyone should be excited about."
NOAA's mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Visit us at www.noaa.gov and join us on Facebook, Twitter and our other social media channels.
