GOES 16 (GOES R)

Launch data:

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• GOES-16 is a new geostationary observatory weather satellite, intended to evolutionize the way American meteorologists see the weather. The heart of GOES-16 is its Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), the sophisticated digital camera that offers more embedded data at higher resolution taken in quicker intervals than ever before. ABI will produce 95 percent of the data from GOES-R, downlinking the equivalent of 210 HD movies every day. In addition to weather forecasting, the imagery will be used for detecting and characterizing wildfires, analyzing air pollution, monitoring volcanic ash clouds and assessing vegetation. The satellite also carries the first Geostationary Lightning Mapper, a Lockheed Martin-made instrument that will take 200 images per second to detect in-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning over the Americas and surrounding ocean areas to increase the warning time for severe weather. GOES-16 also has instruments to monitor the sun, detect solar storm eruptions and alert when the space weather arrives at Earth. Such storms can impact communications, disrupt power grids, threaten the health of astronauts and harm satellites. The GOES-R satellite is expected to produce 1.75 terabytes of data products daily for the National Weather Service and other users.

External links:

• AmericaSpace: Successfully launch
• AmericaSpace: Returns First lightning mapping images
• Satellite tracking (n2ya.com): Real time satellite tracking