Engineering:GOES-T
 The "brains" and "body" of the GOES-T satellite are merged. | |
| Mission type | Earth weather forecasting |
|---|---|
| Operator | NOAA / NASA |
| Mission duration | 15 years (planned) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | GOES |
| Spacecraft type | GOES-R Series |
| Bus | LM-A2100A |
| Manufacturer | Lockheed Martin |
| Launch mass | 2,800 kg (6,200 lb) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 16 February 2022, 21:40 UTC (planned) [1] |
| Rocket | Atlas V 541 |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral, SLC-41 |
| Contractor | United Launch Alliance |
| Entered service | February 2022 (planned) |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
| Regime | Geostationary orbit |
GOES-T is the third of the "GOES-R Series", the actual generation of weather satellites operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), giving sequence to the GOES system. The current and next satellites of the Series (GOES-16, GOES-17, GOES-T, and GOES-U) will extend the availability of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) satellite system until 2037. The satellite will be built by Lockheed Martin in Littleton, Colorado. It will be based on the A2100A satellite bus and will have an expected useful life of 15 years (10 operational after five years in orbit replacement).[2]
Benefits and applications
- Improved hurricane track and intensity forecasts
- Increased thunderstorm and tornado warning lead time
- Earlier warning of lightning ground strike hazards
- Better detection of heavy rainfall and flash flood risks
- Better monitoring of smoke and dust
- Improved air quality warnings and alerts
- Better fire detection and intensity estimation
- Improved detection of low cloud / fog
- Improved transportation safety and aviation route planning
- Improved warning for communications and navigation disruptions and power blackouts
- More accurate monitoring of energetic particles responsible for radiation hazards
The GOES-R Series also continues the legacy Geostationary SAR (GEOSAR) function of the SARSAT system onboard NOAA's GOES satellites which has contributed to the rescue of thousands of individuals in distress. The GOES-R Series SARSAT transponder operates with a lower uplink power than the previous system, enabling GOES-R Series satellites to detect weaker beacon signals.
Redesign
In May 2018, NOAA announced that the recently launched GOES-17 satellite was suffering from a severe malfunction in its instrument cooling system which resulted in degraded performance of its infrared sensors. The cause of the problem was determined to be with the loop heat pipe (LHP), which transports heat from the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) to a radiator for rejection into space. Since the LHP design was shared among all four GOES-R Series satellites, a redesign was required to prevent the anomaly from happening again on GOES-T and GOES-U. Lockheed Martin had already completed assembly of GOES-T and had to remove the ABI instrument in October 2018 and ship it to its manufacturer, Harris Corporation, to be rebuilt.[3][nb 1]
Launch
The satellite was planned to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), Florida, United States .[4] Because of the repairs to correct the loop heat pipe problem, the GOES-T launch date slipped. As of October 2021, the launch date is scheduled for 16 February 2022.[1]
GOES-T is planned to have a mass of 2,800 kg (6,200 lb).[5] The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced plans to move the geostationary weather satellite into an operational role "as soon as possible" by spending two weeks ensuring GOES-T systems perform as expected before moving it into an operational role.[6]
Notes
- ↑ The LHP was actually manufactured by Orbital ATK, which is now a part of Northrop Grumman, while the ABI was built by Exelis Inc., now a part of L3Harris Technologies.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Costa, Jason (30 September 2021). "NOAA's GOES-T Launch Update". NASA. https://blogs.nasa.gov/kennedy/2021/09/30/noaas-goes-t-launch-update/.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ↑ "Mission overview". NOAA. January 2021. https://www.goes-r.gov/mission/mission.html. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ↑ "Lockheed Martin halts work on GOES-T to wait for instrument fix". SpaceNews. 9 January 2019. https://spacenews.com/lockheed-martin-goes-t-u/.
- ↑ Oswald, Ed (22 November 2016). "Launch of GOES-R satellite a game-changing moment for weather forecasting". Digital Trends. http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/goes-r-weather-satellite-launch/.
- ↑ Ray, Justin (22 August 2016). "Sophisticated new U.S. weather observatory being readied for launch". Spaceflight Now. http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/08/22/sophisticated-new-u-s-weather-observatory-being-readied-for-launch/.
- ↑ Werner, Debra (25 June 2021). "NOAA to replace GOES-17 satellite ahead of schedule". SpaceNews. https://spacenews.com/goes-t-to-become-goes-west/.
 |
