Objectives: The GOES system is a basic element of US weather monitoring and forecast operations and is a key component of the NWS (National Weather Service) modernization program. Spacecraft and ground-based systems work together to accomplish the GOES mission of providing weather imagery and quantitative sounding data for weather forecasting and related services. The new series of GOES satellites provides significant improvements over the previous GOES system in weather imagery and atmospheric sounding information.

Description: The spacecraft derive from Space System/Loral's communcations satellites, providing a 3-axis stabilized design. The main body of the spacecraft is a 2-meter cube, with a deployed length of 27 meters. The spacecraft weighs 4600 pounds. The GOES-8 system performs the following basic functions: Acquisition, processing, and dissemination of imaging and sounding data; acquisition and dissemination of Space Environment Monitor (SEM) data; reception and relay of data from ground-based Data Collection Platforms (DCPs) that are situated in carefully selected urban and remote areas to the NOAA Command and Data Acquisition (CDA) station. GOES-8 also provides a continuous relay of Weather Facsimile (WEFAX) and other data to users, independent of all other functions. A 'fringe benefit' of GOES-8 is its ability to relay distress signals from people, aircraft, or marine vessels to the search and rescue ground stations of the Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) system. The GOES-8 spacecraft is operational as GOES-EAST at 75W, and is still providing clear imagery.

Participants: NASA, NOAA, Space Systems/Loral, ITT, General Dynamics Space Systems Division

Click here for NOAA GOES-8 Real-Time Images