GOES-19

Last updated

GOES-19
GOES-U night (53390148447).png
Artistic rendering of GOES-U once deployed
NamesGeostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-U
Mission typeEarth weather forecasting
Operator NOAA / NASA
COSPAR ID 2024-119A OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
SATCAT no. 60133 OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Mission duration15 years (planned)
589 days, 7 hours, 40 minutes (in progress)
Spacecraft properties
Bus A2100
Manufacturer Lockheed Martin
Launch mass5,000 kg (11,023 lb)
Dry mass2,925 kg (6,449 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date25 June 2024, 21:26 (2024-06-25UTC21:26Z)  UTC [1] (5:26 pm  EDT)
Rocket Falcon Heavy
Launch site Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A
Contractor SpaceX
Entered service7 April 2025 [2]
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric orbit
Regime Geostationary orbit
Longitude75.2° west (planned) [3]
Semi-major axis 41,845 km (26,001 mi) [4]
Eccentricity 0.0045031 [4]
Perigee altitude 35,286.4 km (21,926.0 mi) [4]
Apogee altitude 35,663.3 km (22,160.1 mi) [4]
Inclination 0.1204° [1]
Period 24 hours [4]
Epoch July 12, 2024
GOES-U logo.png
GOES-U mission insignia
←  GOES-18

GOES-19 (designated GOES-U prior to reaching geostationary orbit) is a weather satellite, the fourth and last of the GOES-R series of satellites operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The GOES-R series will extend the availability of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) system until 2036. The satellite is built by Lockheed Martin, based on the A2100 platform. [5] [6] The satellite was placed into service as the GOES-East position and GOES-16 was stored as backup on April 7, 2025. [7]

Contents

Launch

The satellite was successfully launched into space atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on 25 June 2024 at 21:26  UTC (5:26 pm  EDT local time at the launch site), [1] from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United States. The redesign of the loop heat pipe to prevent an anomaly, as seen in GOES-17, was not expected to delay the launch as with GOES-T. [8]

GOES-19 also carries a copy of the Naval Research Laboratory's Compact CORonagraph (CCOR) instrument which, along with the CCOR planned for Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1), will allow continued monitoring of solar wind after the retirement of the NASA-ESA SOHO satellite in 2025. [9] [10]

GOES-19 has a dry mass of 2,925 kg (6,449 lb) and a fueled mass of 5,000 kg (11,023 lb). [11]

Comet discoveries through CCOR

The CCOR instrument carried aboard GOES-19 has allowed for the discovery of several sungrazer comets by researchers analyzing CCOR imagery. As of 28 May 2025, GOES-19's CCOR has found 47 comets. [12]

The faint comet 3I/ATLAS was observable from 18–24 October 2025 with GOES-19 as the satellite can see objects down to magnitude 12. [13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Garofalo, Meredith (25 June 2024). "Powerful GOES-U weather satellite launches to orbit atop SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket". space.com.
  2. ↑ "OSPO Administrative Message declaring GOES 19 Operational". NOAA Office of Satellites And Product Operations Satellite Alert Messages. 7 April 2025. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
  3. ↑ "NOAA's GOES-U Reaches Geostationary Orbit, Now Designated GOES-19". NESDIS. NOAA. 8 July 2024. Retrieved 14 July 2024.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "GOES-19 (GOES-U)". n2yo.com. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  5. ↑ "GOES-R, S, T, U Spacecraft Overview". Spaceflight101. Archived from the original on 5 June 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  6. ↑ Andrews, Hillary (27 March 2024). "GOES-U weather satellite to launch June 25 after leak causes delay". FOX Weather. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  7. ↑ "NOAA's GOES-19 satellite now operational, providing critical new data to forecasters". NOAA.gov. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  8. ↑ Werner, Debra (9 January 2019). "Lockheed Martin halts work on GOES-T to wait for instrument fix". SpaceNews. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  9. ↑ Vargas, Marco (7 January 2019). "The NOAA Space Weather Follow-On Program to Ensure Continuity of CME Imagery and Solar Wind Space-Based Observations". American Meteorilogical Society 99th Annual Meeting. AMS. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  10. ↑ "Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1". NESDIS . NOAA . Retrieved 24 March 2020.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  11. ↑ "GOES-R Series Spacecraft Overview". GOES-R Series. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  12. ↑ "April and May 2025 Confirmations".
  13. ↑ Worachate Boonplod on Comets-ML
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