GOES-N STATUS last update 5 January 2007

NOAA Information about GOES-N

NASA PR about GOES-N

GOES-N Mission

Media pictures of GOES-N preparations for launch

GOES-N Brochures

Web-quality draft of the GOES-N mision brochure in PDF (2 MB)

Print-quality draft of the GOES-N mission brochure in PDF (4 MB)

GOES N Databook

Spacecraft

In the spring of 2004, the GOES-N spacecraft completed construction, underwent thermal-vac testing, and was ready to ship to the Cape for launch. Delays with Boeing's tests of heavy-Delta IV rockets delayed shipment to Cape Canaveral until March 2005.

Imager

Sounder

GOES-13 Images

Post-launch Testing of GOES-13

NASA reviewed the results of the performance testing for NOAA in December 2006, and accepted the spacecraft.

Meanwhile, NOAA carried out science & operations performance testing in December and early January, as described by the reviewers at CIRA/Colorado State University.

On 5 January 2007, NOAA turned off the instruments, in preparation for on-orbit storage.

Launch Saga

GOES-N Launch Brochure (2006)

GOES-N was originally scheduled for launch in 2001, but construction and launch were extended to 2003, since the on-orbit satellites were working well. In 2003, the GOES-N was scheduled for launch in December 2004, and then January 2005.

In mid-February 2005, the GOES-N launch date was reset to May 2005, to avoid the risk of launching during the spring eclipse season.

In April 2005, there was a concern about the Delta IV rocket, and so the GOES-N launch was postponed to June while some tanks on the rocket were replaced.

In mid-June 2005, launch was slipped to late June to allow technicians time to check for possible damage to the Delta IV rocket's electrical systems from nearby lightning strikes.

In late June 2005, there were uncertainties about a battery in the rocket, so the launch was postponed to July.

In late July 2005, concerns about the satellite caused Boeing to slip-delay the launch several times to mid-August. On August 16th, launch was aborted with 4 minutes and 22 seconds to go.

Because launch slipped past mid-August, it was rescheduled for the first weekend in November 2005, to avoid the risk of deployment during the autumnal eclipse season in geosynchronous orbit.

At the end of October 2005, Boeing's union voted to strike, putting the launch of GOES-N on hold until the union voted to accept a new contract at the beginning of February 2006. However, the spring eclipse season would make launch risky before mid-April, so launch had to be scheduled for after mid-April.

To prepare for that, Boeing took the satellite off the fueled rocket, rehabbed both it and the rocket, and put them back together.

In early April 2006, the first launch opportunity for GOES-N was 18 May 2006.

By mid-May 2006, the first launch opportunity for GOES-N was 24 May 2006.

GOES-N was finally launched successfully right on the dot, at 6:11 pm EDT on 24 May 2006.

GOES-N was launched on a Delta IV with two solids to nearly direct injection to geo-orbit. The use of two powerful solid rocket boosters allows the main rocket to get to geo-orbit, which in turn saves fuel on the spacecraft, and achieves at least 10 years of fuel lifetime (nominally 5 years of on orbit storage, and 5 years of operations).

GOES-13 arrived on orbit with 15 years of geosynchronous station-keeping fuel.

The GOES-N spacecraft needs to have its folded solar panels facing outward towards the Sun during apogee-raising maneuvers around 1200 UTC on the other side of the Earth, which results in a Delta IV launch window around local sunset (2300 UTC) in Florida.

After launch, Boeing scheduled 24 days to get to geosynchronous orbit, deploy and outgas all components, power-up (but not open up) the instruments, and rename the satellite "GOES-13".

On June 13, after 20 days of preparation, Boeing turned GOES-13 over to NASA for the post-launch engineering checkout of approximately 240 days. The satellite will be checked out at 90W, during the 2006 hurricane season.

The first visible image was taken on 22 June 2006, 5 days ahead of schedule.

After checkout, NASA turned GOES-13 over to NOAA on 20 December 2006. NOAA will put GOES-13 into on-orbit storage at 105W until it is needed to replace GOES-12 at GOES-EAST or GOES-11 at GOES-WEST, circa 2010.

If GOES-N were stored on the Earth, it would have to be to be called out of deep storage to replace an on-orbit failure. There would be 9 to 12 months of preparation between call-up and launch, followed by 3 months of post-launch deployment and testing before it could become operational. On-orbit storage reduces this delay from one year to less than one week, and avoids the chance of a launch failure when you can least afford it.

GOES N,O,P Enhancement Summary

• GOES-N,O,P will have an improved Image Navigation and Registration (INR) system that will use star trackers to provide precision image navigation and registration information for use with the Imaging and Sounding data products. This will improve knowledge of exactly where severe weather events are located.
• A stable optical bench has been provided to isolate the thermal deformations of the spacecraft from the Imager and Sounder instruments.
• A data product improvement has been provided with the development of the digital Low Rate Image Information Transmission (LRIT) system for distribution of data Products that were distributed in an analog WEFAX format in the previous generation of GOES satellites. The LRIT system will permit the transmission of many data products consistent with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and will permit the distribution of more National Weather Service (NWS) information at a higher data rate to the NOAA data user community.
• The Data Collection System (DCS) has been enhanced with the addition of 300 and 1200 bps Data Collection Platforms (DCPs) that will use 8-PSK modulation and a higher power satellite transponder so that more DCPs can use the link at the same time.
• The power subsystem has been improved with the use of a single panel solar array that contains high-efficiency dual-junction gallium-arsenide solar cells. A nickel- hydrogen battery is provided to permit the satellites to operate during the eclipse periods.
• A new Solar X-Ray Imager (SXI) has been developed by the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center to permit the observation and collection of solar data products.
• A dedicated transponder is being provided to support the Emergency Manager's Weather Information Network (EMWIN) data product service.
• The Satellite design life time has been improved from 7 to 10 years, and the expected propellant lifetime has been increased to 13.5 years.
• The GOES-N,O,P command data rate has been increased to 2,000 bps, as compared to a data rate of 250 bps for the previous generation of GOES satellites.
• The GOES-N,O,P telemetry data rate has been improved to provide data at either 4,000 or 1,000 bps, as compared to the 2,000 bps data rate on the previous generation of GOES satellites.
• An optional operational 'yaw flip' capability and procedure has been developed on the GOES-N,O,P Program to permit optimum performance of the Imager and Sounder radiation coolers. The procedure will permit operation of the Imager and Sounder detectors at a lower temperature and will result in lower noise performance of the instruments because of a lower detector temperature.
• The Space Environment Monitoring (SEM) subsystem has been enhanced by the addition of the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) sensor, Energetic Proton, Electron, and Alpha particle Detector (EPEAD), the Magnetospheric Electron Detector (MAGED), the Magnetospheric Proton Detector (MAGPD) and dual magnetometers on a 27.9 foot (8.5 meter) long boom. The EPS sensors have been expanded on GOES-N,O,P to provide coverage over an extended energy range and with improved directional accuracy.
• Provision was made to allow addition of a Lightning Mapper instrument or another instrument of opportunity. No such instrument has been provided at this time and GOES-N and GOES-O have completed their pre-launch qualification testing.
• The communications services have been tailored to comply with modern national and international requirements.
• Potential reduction in striping in the image will be achieved due to increasing the ImagerŐs scan-mirror dwell time during the blackbody calibration process from 0.2 seconds to 2 seconds.
• Outages due to solar intrusion Keep Out Zones (KOZ) will be minimized because thermal shields have been added to the secondary mirror structure elements for the Imager and Sounder instruments.
• There will be no 'boom snap' problems on the GOES-N,O,P satellites since the effect is due to the shadow of the magnetometer boom crossing the solar sail boom and the solar sail boom is not used with the GOES-N,O,P satellite design.