Experts to preview March launch of GOES-S satellite

Data will improve weather forecasts for western U.S., Alaska, Hawaii

UPDATED: February 1, 2018. Audio from the February 1, 2018 GOES-S L-30 media call is posted to the "resources" section below.
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Top officials from NOAA, NASA and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection will hold a media teleconference to discuss how NOAA’s GOES-S, the second in a series of next-generation geostationary weather satellites, will help provide faster, more accurate data for tracking lightning, storm systems, wildfires, dense fog and other hazards that threaten the western U.S., Hawaii and Alaska.
Technicians in the clean room at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla. closely inspect and continue working to prepare NOAA's GOES-S for its March 1 launch.
Technicians in the clean room at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla. closely inspect and continue working to prepare NOAA's GOES-S for its March 1 launch. (NOAA)
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GOES-S is scheduled to launch March 1 at 5:02 p.m. EST from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Once in orbit and declared operational it will be placed in what’s known as the GOES-West position and renamed GOES-17.

Like GOES-16, launched in November 2016 and operating in the GOES-East position, GOES-S will scan the Earth five times faster at four times the image resolution with triple the number of channels for more accurate, reliable forecasts and severe weather outlooks.

WHAT: 
Media teleconference on NOAA’s next-generation GOES-S weather satellite.

WHEN:
Thu., Feb. 1, at 1 p.m. EST

HOW:
U.S. and Canadian media may call 1-888-942-9266 toll-free. Other international media may call 1-773-756-4623 (toll call). Please use the passcode "GOES." 

WHO:

  • Ajay Mehta, acting deputy assistant administrator for systems, NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS)
  • Tim Walsh, acting director, NOAA’s GOES-R program
  • Joe Pica, director, National Weather Service Office of Observations
  • Sandra Smalley, director, NASA's Joint Agency Satellite Division
  • Jana Luis, division chief of predictive services, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CALFIRE).

 

Related Resources

Media Contact:
John Leslie, 301-713-0214

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