NASA, SpaceX launch space weather satellite: All you need to know | Watch

The series of advanced satellites called GOES-R (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) is expected to help provide “continuous coverage of weather and hazardous environmental conditions across much of the Western Hemisphere,” NASA said in a press release.

NASA, SpaceX and Elon Musk celebrated the achievement by posting photos and videos on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter). SpaceX boss Musk said, “New weather satellite delivered!”

“Orbiting Earth at a distance of approximately 35,700 kilometers, GOES-U will help weather forecasters and climate researchers provide real-time high-resolution imagery, detect severe weather earlier, which could save lives, and forecast tropical cyclones,” posted on NASA’s official account.

here are the details

• The satellite GOES-U launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at 5:26 p.m. By 10:18 p.m., the solar power systems had deployed, powering the spacecraft.
• When GOES-U is in geostationary orbit about 22,200 miles above Earth, it will be renamed GOES-19. Its predecessor was GOES-T.
• While in service, GOES-19 will monitor the weather over much of North America (the United States and Mexico), Central and South America, the Caribbean, the Atlantic Ocean and the west coast of Africa.

• NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement that GOES-U will track weather in real time amid “extreme weather impacts” around the world. He said the data will help prepare for severe storms, detect fires and more. “This fleet of advanced satellites is increasing resilience to our changing climate and protecting humanity from weather threats on Earth and in space,” Nelson said.
• These satellites are expected to help predict space weather near Earth, which can interfere with satellite electronics, GPS and radio communications.
• GOES-U is the first of four that includes a coronagraph, called the Compact Coronagraph-1 (CCOR-1). Coronagraphs block the Sun’s disk and allow observations of its outermost layer, called the corona.

• Applications of satellite data include tracking climate change and providing critical information ahead of severe weather and natural disasters, according to Nikki Fox, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
• Elsayed Talaat, the man in charge of space weather observations at NOAA, told AFP that CCOR-1 will enable better forecasts of solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which disrupt Earth’s magnetic field and affect power grids and communications.
• In May, Earth experienced a Level 5 geomagnetic storm for the first time in two decades, causing heat waves in some parts of the world and auroras in others.
• “With the new coronagraph, the speed and direction of this phenomenon could be better understood from the very beginning. Although the Sun is no more active than in previous generations, our society has changed, and we are more sensitive than ever to the Sun’s changing moods. Once operational, CCOR-1 will write a new chapter in space weather observation,” Talat said.
• Currently, observations of solar flares are obtained with a delay of up to eight hours via a satellite launched in 1995, which is expected to be decommissioned by 2026. With CCOR-1, the US will get readings every 30 minutes.

(With inputs from AFP)

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Published: June 26, 2024, 12:28 PM IST