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NASA Sets March 2 Launch For GOES-P
February 24, 2010 |12:35 | Gossips By : Team X
NASA plans to launch the third and final Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) in the GOES-N series on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on March 2.
Liftoff is set for a window that opens at 6:19 p.m. EST and closes an hour later.Designated GOES-P until its checkout in orbit by manufacturer Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems of El Segundo Calif., the geostationary weather satellite will be stored in orbit as GOES-15 until one of the operational GOES spacecraft fails.
NASA manages procurement of the spacecraft, and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) operates them in geostationary orbit, where they provide continuous coverage of all 50 U.S. states.
NOAA is already operating GOES 11 and 12, and plans to activate GOES-13 late in April to replace GOES 12 at 75 deg. W. Long. The older satellite will be moved to 60 deg. W. Long for better coverage of South America under the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS).
The GOES-14 satellite is in the orbital-storage position at 105 deg. W. Long., where it will remain to provide X-ray Sensor monitoring of the Sun for NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) in Boulder, Colo. GOES-P will carry a Solar X-Ray Imager (SXI) to orbit for solar monitoring.
“The SXI is improving our forecasts and warnings for solar disturbances, protecting billions of dollars worth of commercial and government assets in space and on the ground, and lessening the brunt of power surges for the satellite-based electronics and communications industry,” says Tom Bodgan, director of the SWPC.
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