NASA successfully propelled its 2nd in series of next-generation weather satellites for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that lifted off on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
According to reports, the spacecraft’s solar arrays successfully deployed at 8.58 p.m. and the spacecraft was operating on its own power. It will offer faster, precise and detailed information in near real-time, to track storm systems, lightning, wildfires, coastal fog and other hazards that affect the western United States.
Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for science said, “We at NASA Science are proud to support our joint agency partner NOAA on today’s launch of GOES-S, a national asset that will impact lives across the Western Hemisphere each and every day.”
Once GOES-S is situated in a geostationary orbit 22,300 miles above Earth, in roughly two weeks, it will be renamed GOES-17. In the not so distant future, in the wake of experiencing a full checkout and approval of its six innovative instruments, the new satellite will move to the GOES-West position and wind up operational. From that point, it always will give propelled symbolism and environmental estimations, continuous mapping of lightning action, and enhanced checking of sun based action and space climate.
Notwithstanding enhancing climate conjectures, GOES-17 will enable forecasters to find and track out of control fires – priceless data that crisis reaction groups need to battle fires and clear individuals out of damage’s way. GOES-17 additionally will be a critical instrument for forecasters to track and anticipate the development and dissemination of haze, which can disturb airplane terminal activities.
GOES-17 will work in pair with GOES-16, the first satellite in NOAA’s new geostationary series, now at the GOES-East position. GOES-17 will broaden observational high-resolution satellite scope of the progressive new innovation on board GOES-16 to the greater part of the Western Hemisphere, from the west coast of Africa to New Zealand, and from close to the Arctic Circle to close to the Antarctic Circle. The satellite will give more and preferred information over is at present accessible over the northeastern Pacific Ocean, the origination of numerous climate frameworks that influence the mainland U.S.
NOAA manages the GOES-R Series program through a coordinated NOAA/NASA office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA additionally manages the securing of the rocket, instruments and dispatch vehicles. Lockheed Martin Space of Littleton, Colorado, manufactured the shuttle and is in charge of rocket improvement, incorporation, and testing.
Mission operations will be performed by NOAA at the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Maryland. Harris Corp. of Melbourne, Florida, provided the main instrument payload, the Advanced Baseline Imager, and the ground system, which includes the antenna system for data receipt. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch management. ULA of Centennial, Colorado, is the provider of the Atlas V launch service