A go is the action of moving or starting to move. The verb form of this is go, as in “I went to the store,” or “he is going to play tennis.” “Go” can also be used as a prefix, such as with the phrase “to go”, meaning to begin or finish something.

In the classroom, “go” is often taught as an introductory action verb with a focus on movement and action. It is also one of the most common prefixes to express time. For example, “as the sun goes down” means that it is beginning to get dark outside. “To go” can also be used as a rephrasing of “to come”, as in “I am coming to pick you up at 5:30.”

The GOES-T launch continues the successful relationship between NOAA and ULA. Since its formation more than 15 years ago, the partnership has launched every GOES satellite and every NOAA meteorological mission using Atlas and Delta rockets. This ties with the long-standing history of NASA’s geostationary operational environmental satellite (GOES) program that began in 1974.

GOES-T will feature several advanced instruments, including the Advanced Baseline Imager, which views Earth with three times more spectral channels and five times faster scanning than previous GOES satellites. It will also feature the Geostationary Lightning Mapper, which can detect lightning at night and improve storm hazard forecasting. Other instruments will monitor space weather events such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CME) that can disrupt satellite communication and reduce navigational accuracy for high altitude airlines, airplanes and power grids on Earth.

In April, GOES-16 and -17 switched to a new flex mode called mode 6 that produces full disk images of the contiguous United States (CONUS) and Pacific U.S. (PACUS) every 10 minutes, compared to the earlier 15-minute mode 3. This mode provides imagery for key meteorological conditions such as cloud motions and precipitation.

In September, the GOES-S suite of instruments—including SUVI and EXIS—were delivered for integration with the satellite’s solar-pointing platform. In addition, the System Module—the brain of the satellite—was mated to the solar-pointing module in October, and the body module, which contains all other satellite components, was delivered in November. The GOES-S modules will be integrated and tested together as the spacecraft itself in 2022. During this period, the spacecraft will be trained to fly in its orbital slot and perform critical post-launch operations such as separation from the launch vehicle and instrument activation. The GOES-T spacecraft will also undergo a variety of other tests. These include vibration testing to ensure the spacecraft can withstand shocks during the launch and deployment of the solar panels, as well as acoustic testing that will use high-intensity horns to simulate the noise created when the satellite separates from its launch vehicle. Finally, electromagnetic testing will ensure that the satellite’s sensors are protected from interference caused by stray electromagnetic signals. These tests are ongoing, and all of these milestones will be accomplished before the satellite’s launch in 2024.