For more than 40 years, NOAA has kept a watchful eye on Earth’s weather from geostationary orbit. The Lockheed Martin-built GOES satellite series—originally known as the GEOS series, then the NOAA/NASA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) series and now the Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) series—has kept the Western Hemisphere under constant observation.

Geostationary satellites are placed into a highly-elliptical orbit 22,300 miles above the Earth’s equator. They stay in a fixed position with respect to the point on the Earth that they are observing. The GOES satellites are the main source of geostationary meteorological images for NOAA’s National Weather Service Weather Forecast Offices and National Centers as well as Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers around the world.

In addition to its core imager, the GOES satellites have carried a variety of sensors, from sounders to lightning detectors. These sensors have provided the data needed to detect and monitor severe weather conditions across the nation.

Each GOES satellite has a DCS onboard computer system that gathers and relays environmental data transmissions from the automated Data Collection Platforms (DCPs) that are located at the surface, in aircraft, or aboard marine vessels. The DCS transmits the information in a standardized format over the satellite’s UHF radio spectrum, via the GOES Data Distribution System (GOES-DDS) network. The data is then transmitted to NOAA’s Regional Data Utilization centers and small, ground-based APT (Automatic Picture Transmission) receiving stations.

The GOES-R series will carry the first Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) to monitor total lightning activity with a nearly uniform storm-scale spatial resolution of 8 km across most of the Western Hemisphere. This capability will allow NOAA to better assess the potential for hazardous weather impacts from large-scale lightning events and provide more targeted forecasting guidance for National Weather Service forecast offices, National Hurricane Centers, and Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers.

Another new capability of the GOES-R series is its ability to produce 10-minute full disk imagery. This is a significant improvement over the current satellites’ ability to produce 1-minute imagery. The new Imager’s ABI (Advanced Baseline Imager) will be able to provide this level of detail by using silicon for the visible spectral bands and mercury cadmium telluride for the near-IR and IR-absorption spectra.

The GOES-R satellites will also have a Space Environment Monitor (SEM) package that will provide space weather data to NOAA’s Space Environment Center (NOAA/SEC). These space weather products will help NOAA forecasters detect and respond to solar activities that could impact on spaceborne assets or interfere with communications links between Earth and other spacecraft.

In addition to observing Earth’s weather from its geostationary orbit, the GOES-R series will also fly the SXI (Solar X-ray Imager) instrument that will detect and measure the intensity of solar flares. This is important in providing warnings to NOAA and the US Air Force spacecraft in orbit as well as on the ground. SXI is expected to be operational on the GOES-R series with the launch of GOES-17. The instrument is also being offered as a commercial product for use with manned and unmanned aircraft.