NOAA’s GOES-U heads to orbit for historic mission

GOES-U, the latest of NOAA’s four advanced geostationary satellites, soared into orbit on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at 5:26 p.m. EDT from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch team confirmed the satellite’s solar array panels have deployed, and GOES-U is operating under its own power.  

After approximately two weeks, GOES-U will reach geostationary orbit at 22,236 miles above Earth and will be renamed GOES-19. Following a thorough checkout and validation of its instruments, the new satellite will shift to the GOES-East position and replace GOES-16 in the mid-2025 time frame.

“GOES-U will combine high definition with advanced speed and precision to the real-time observations it will capture, which will help improve the accuracy and timeliness of our weather forecasts,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. “Also, this satellite will ensure these critical data are available to NOAA forecasters into the 2030s.” 

GOES-U is making history by carrying the first operational satellite solar coronagraph (CCOR-1). This instrument will work in tandem with the satellite’s other solar and space environment technology to detect hazardous space weather that could disrupt power grids, communications and navigation systems. 

"GOES is one of the most valuable tools that our meteorologists and hydrologists have in their observational toolbox,” said NOAA National Weather Service Director Ken Graham. “This satellite will add to the current imaging capabilities for hurricanes, fires, severe storms and other life-saving applications, including the new coronagraph that will expand warning lead times for geomagnetic storms.”

GOES-U is also historic because “it completes the GOES-R series of four satellites that were first conceived more than 20 years ago and is expected to operate into the late 2030s,” said Steve Volz, Ph. D., assistant administrator for NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service. 

Like the previous satellites in the GOES-R series, GOES-U will provide fast, accurate data for tracking severe storms, tropical systems, destructive wildfires (and the smoke they emit), floods, lightning, snow storms, dense fog and other hazards that threaten the U.S. GOES-U will work in sync with GOES-18, which is perched in the GOES-West position, to observe more than half the globe — from the west coast of Africa to New Zealand, and from Alaska to Antarctica.

About the NOAA-NASA partnership

NOAA oversees the GOES-R Series Program through an integrated NOAA-NASA office, managing the ground system, operating the satellites and distributing their data to users worldwide. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center manages the acquisition of the spacecraft and instruments and also built the Magnetometer instrument for GOES-T and GOES-U. 

NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center, manages the launch services for the GOES missions. Lockheed Martin designs, builds and tests the GOES-R series satellites. L3Harris Technologies provides the primary instrument, the Advanced Baseline Imager, along with the ground system, which includes the antenna system for data reception.

Next mission on the horizon

Right now, NOAA and NASA are developing GeoXO (Geostationary Extended Observations), the mission that will follow the GOES-R Series. The GeoXO mission will not only continue and improve on the advanced imagery and lightning detection capabilities of the GOES-R Series, but also will add new observations to monitor the atmosphere, ocean and climate to meet growing environmental and health challenges facing the globe. 

The first GeoXO satellite is scheduled to launch in 2032, as the GOES-R Series nears the end of its operational lifetime.

Climate, weather, and water affect all life on our ocean planet. NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict our changing environment, from the deep sea to outer space, and to manage and conserve America’s coastal and marine resources.