NASA’s Launch Services Program announced that it selected United Launch Alliance’s (ULA’s) Atlas V vehicle to launch the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-T mission, the second to last satellite in the GOES constellation.
“ULA is pleased once again to be selected to launch a GOES mission and we look forward to working with our mission partners from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for this important launch,” said Tory Bruno, ULA’s president and chief executive officer. “ULA and its heritage vehicles have a long history with the GOES Program and have launched all 17 operational missions to date.”
The GOES-T mission is scheduled to launch in December 2021 from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. This mission will launch aboard an Atlas V 541 configuration rocket.
GOES-T is the third of the next generation of weather satellites operated by NOAA, giving sequence to the GOES system. The GOES-R Series (including GOES-R, -S, -T and -U) provides advanced imagery and atmospheric measurements of Earth’s weather, oceans and environment, real-time mapping of total lightning activity, and improved monitoring of solar activity and space weather.
The GOES-S weather satellite launched on March 1, 2018. It later became operational as GOES-West in February of this year.
Miss our live stream of tonight’s #GOESS launch? Here it is, from high atop the VAB at @NASAKennedy . Stunning launch! Great job @NASA, @NOAA, @NWS, @ulalaunch , @HarrisCorp , @LockheedMartin , @NOAASatellites , & countless partners that made today’s event possible! pic.twitter.com/S3ohzJHrmi
— the Weatherboy (@theWeatherboy) March 2, 2018
When GOES-T is launched, it’ll have an expected useful life of 15 years; 10 operational that are operational after five years in orbit replacement. The GOES-T launch, originally scheduled for 2020, has been delayed due to an anomaly that was identified on GOES-S, NOAA is implementing changes to the ABI radiator for GOES-T and GOES-U to reduce the risk of a cooling system anomaly occurring again.
