Atlas v rising tv#

The inauguration of the GOES-R-class satellites was likened to upgrading from a black-and-white television to high-definition color TV in terms of the improvement in image resolution and spectral coverage. The first GOES satellite launched in 1974 and subsequent satellites gradually upgraded to color imaging, multi-spectral capabilities and added auxiliary instruments to measure space weather. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) have been the backbone of weather forecasting in the United States for the last 44 years, keeping constant watch over weather systems from a high-altitude vantage point 36,000 Kilometers above the equator. Naturally, there is great desire among the meteorological community to receive an equivalent asset in the GOES-West location, watching over developments in the Pacific at high observation cadence. GOES-R already proved its worth before entering service in December 2017 when saving lives through accurate wind and rainfall predictions for Hurricane Harvey that caused major flooding in Texas in August & September and GOES-R was also on the case when Hurricane Irma trekked across the Atlantic, predicting its landfall location over the Florida Keys with over 24 hours of lead time. GOES-R Image of Harvey just before making Landfall – Image: NOAA/CIRA

Launching in 2016, GOES-R ushered in a new age for weather forecasting as the fourth GOES generation is widely regarded as the most powerful meteorological satellites ever launched with benefits for operational meteorology and climate science – scanning the Earth five times faster than the previous generation of satellites, offering four times the resolution and expanding spectral coverage by a factor of three – and that is only for the satellite’s primary Earth-watching instrument. To reach its orbital destination, Atlas V will travel halfway around the globe on Thursday, in the process firing its trusted Centaur upper stage three times to send the GOES-S satellite on two weeks of orbit-raising to set the stage for several months of checkouts before it can take an active role within the GOES constellation – assuming the position of GOES-West to watch over the Pacific Ocean and the continental United States.Īrtist’s Rendering of GOES-S – Image: Lockheed Martin local time, rising into the skies over Florida’s Space Coast with the help of four Solid Rocket Boosters that give the vehicle the power needed to send the 5,200-Kilogram payload into a high-energy Geostationary Transfer Orbit over three and a half hours after liftoff. Atlas V is expected to leap off the ground at 22:02 UTC, 5:02 p.m.

Thursday’s launch of NOAA’s GOES-S satellite follows the 2016 launch of GOES-R as the first in the fourth generation of GOES satellites, taking the four-decade satellite program into a new era of weather monitoring and forecasting. Geostationary Meteorological Satellites to complete the operational constellation with two sharply-eyed weather assets watching over the Western Hemisphere from their high-altitude perch. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket rolled to its Cape Canaveral launch pad on Wednesday in preparation for liftoff Thursday afternoon with the second in the next-generation of U.S.

Atlas v rising