The GOES-R series satellites, now being built and tested at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will help NOAA forecasters better monitor severe storms like tornadoes, hurricanes and flash floods, as well as the hazards they cause such as fog, volcanic ash clouds and wildfires. The satellites will also track lightning, the sun and space weather.

Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) are unique among weather satellites in that they orbit Earth at a fixed position above the equator, rotating with the Earth to maintain a constant view of the same region over time. This “geostationary” position allows a single satellite to continuously monitor a specific region on the Earth, and provides meteorologists with data needed for detailed and accurate weather forecasts.

GOES satellites are equipped with an extensive suite of Earth-sensing, lightning-detecting, solar imaging and space weather monitoring instruments. These sensors provide critical information in near-real time to support NOAA forecasters and scientists at local NOAA weather centers, National Weather Service offices and even at the White House.

NOAA’s newest GOES satellite, designated GOES-T and scheduled for launch in early 2022 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, will be positioned as GOES West upon reaching its geostationary position at an altitude of 35,800 kilometers (22,300 miles) above the planet. GOES-T will cover the western half of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, as well as large areas of Mexico, Central America and the Pacific Ocean.

Like the two GOES satellites currently in use, GOES-T will have an Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) to deliver high-resolution imagery of Earth’s clouds, water vapor, smoke and dust. The new satellite will also include a space weather instrument called the Cosmic Ray Imaging Spectrometer (CRIS) to observe solar flares, coronal mass ejections and other space weather phenomena.

Another important feature of GOES-T is the ability to provide 10-minute Full Disk imagery. This faster scanning cadence will allow GOES-T to monitor regions of potential aviation turbulence, particularly over the ocean and mountains where current GOES satellite imagery is often limited in temporal resolution.

GOES-T is currently in the thermal vacuum test phase, where it is immersed in a huge 29′ x 65′ chamber to simulate the extreme conditions of space. The test will see the satellite’s interior temperatures reach up to 188o Fahrenheit and drop to as low as minus 67o Celsius. Once this phase is complete, the spacecraft will undergo a final assembly in preparation for re-entry into its geostationary orbit and the start of operational service as GOES-18.