Engineering:GOES 15

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Short description: US Space Force weather satellite
EWS-G2
GOES-P.jpg
The GOES-15 satellite during pre-launch processing.
NamesGOES-P
GOES-15 (before September 22, 2023)
Mission typeWeather satellite
OperatorNOAA / NASA
COSPAR ID2010-008A
SATCAT no.36411
Mission duration10 years (planned)
Elapsed: 14 years, 4 months, 14 days
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft typeGOES-N series
BusBSS-601
ManufacturerBoeing
ITT Corporation
Power2.3 kilowatts from solar array
Start of mission
Launch date4 March 2010, 23:57 (2010-03-04UTC23:57Z) UTC
RocketDelta IV-M+(4,2)
Launch siteCape Canaveral Air Force Station , SLC-37B
ContractorUnited Launch Alliance
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeGeostationary
Longitude128° West
SlotGOES-West
Semi-major axis42,166 kilometres (26,201 mi)
Perigee altitude35,791.0 kilometres (22,239.5 mi)
Apogee altitude35,800.4 kilometres (22,245.3 mi)
Inclination0.2°
Period1,436.2 minutes
 
GOES-15 launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station SLC-37B, 4 March 2010.

EWS-G2 (Electro-optical Infrared Weather System Geostationary)[1] is a weather satellite of the U.S. Space Force, formerly GOES-15 (also known as GOES-P before becoming operational). The spacecraft was constructed by Boeing, and is the last of three GOES satellites to be based on the BSS-601 bus. It was launched in 2010, while the other BSS-601 GOES satellites—GOES-13 and GOES-14—were launched in May 2006 and June 2009 respectively.[2] It was the sixteenth GOES satellite to be launched.

Launch

GOES-15 was launched atop a Delta IV-M+(4,2) rocket flying from Space Launch Complex 37B at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station .[3][4] The launch occurred at 23:57 UTC on 4 March 2010, forty minutes into a sixty-minute launch window. Upon reaching geostationary orbit on 16 March, it was redesignated GOES-15.[4][5] On 6 December 2011, it was activated as the GOES-West satellite, replacing GOES-11.[6]

Design

At launch, the mass of the satellite was 3,238 kilograms (7,139 lb). It has a design life of ten years. Power is supplied by a single gallium arsenide solar panel, which provides up to 2.3 kilowatts of power. A 24 cell nickel hydrogen battery is used to provide power when the satellite is not in sunlight.[7] Instruments aboard GOES-15 include a five channel multispectral imager to capture visible light and infrared images of the continental United States, a sounder to take readings of atmospheric temperature and moisture, a solar x-ray imager to detect solar flares, and instruments to monitor the magnetosphere, cosmic background radiation and charged particles.[7]

Operations

NOAA began to transition GOES-15 out of operational status at the GOES-West position in late 2018 to replace it with GOES-17.[8][9] GOES-15 began an eastward drift maneuver on 29 October 2018 to 128° W, with all of its sensors still functioning.[9] GOES-15's drift is intended to provide additional separation from GOES-17 to prevent communication interference. GOES-15 drifted east at a rate of 0.88° per day until 7 November 2018, when it reached its new operating location of 128° West. Once GOES-17 reached its assigned longitude on 13 November 2018, additional tests were performed; provided that testing goes well, GOES-17 will become operational as GOES-West on 10 December 2018.[9] Both GOES-17 and GOES-15 operated in tandem through early 2020 to allow for assessment of the performance of GOES-17 as the GOES-West operational satellite.[9] On March 2, 2020, GOES-15 was deactivated and moved to a storage orbit, with plans to re-activate it in August 2020 to back up GOES-17 operations due to a known flaw causing many sensors to become unreliable at night during certain times of the year.[10][11] On 22 September 2023 the satellite's ownership was officially transferred to the U.S. Space Force, taking its current designation as part of the EWS-G network. As a consequence, the spacecraft has started drifting over the Indian Ocean to reach its new assigned orbit and it's scheduled to become operational in November 2023.[1]

Media

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Space Force accepts second weather satellite through NOAA partnership". U.S. Space Force. 22 September 2023. https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3534522/space-force-accepts-second-weather-satellite-through-noaa-partnership/. 
  2. Krebs, Gunter. "GOES N, O, P, Q". Gunter's Space Page. http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/goes-n.htm. 
  3. "GOES-P Launch Blog". NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GOES-P/main/index.html. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 Ray, Justin. "Mission Status Center". Delta Launch Report. Spaceflight Now. http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d348/status.html. 
  5. "LIVE: Delta IV set to launch GOES-P weather satellite". NASAspaceflight.com. 4 March 2010. http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2010/03/live-delta-iv-launch-goes-p-satellite/. 
  6. "NOAA activates GOES-15 satellite; deactivates GOES-11 after nearly 12 years in orbit". NOAA. http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2011/20111206_goessatellite.html. 
  7. 7.0 7.1 "GOES-P Mission Operations Booklet". United Launch Alliance. http://www.ulalaunch.com/site/docs/missionbooklets/DIV/div_goesp_mob.pdf. 
  8. "Get Ready to Drift: GOES-17 Begins Move to Its New Operational Position | NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS)". www.nesdis.noaa.gov. https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/content/get-ready-drift-goes-17-begins-move-its-new-operational-position. 
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 "GOES-17 Transition to Operations │ GOES-R Series" (in en). https://www.goes-r.gov/users/transitionToOperations17.html. 
  10. "GOES-16/17 Transition". NOAA. 2020-02-19. https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Operations/GOES/16/transition.html. 
  11. "GOES-15 is no longer sending data". CIMSS. 2020-03-02. https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-blog/archives/35844. 

External links