Geostationary Lightning Mapper
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GOES-16, formerly known as GOES-R before reaching
geostationary orbit A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular orbit, circular geosynchronous or ...
, is the first of the GOES-R series of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) operated by
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
and the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, ...
 (NOAA). GOES-16 serves as a backup for NOAA’s operational geostationary constellation. GOES-16 provides high spatial and temporal resolution imagery of the Earth through 16  spectral bands at visible and
infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...
wavelengths using its Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI). GOES-16's Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) is the first operational
lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...
mapper flown in geostationary orbit. The spacecraft also includes four other scientific instruments for monitoring
space weather Space weather is a branch of space physics and aeronomy, or heliophysics, concerned with the varying conditions within the Solar System and its heliosphere. This includes the effects of the solar wind, especially on the Earth's magnetosphere, ion ...
and the
Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...
. GOES-16's design and instrumentation began in 1999 and was intended to fill key NOAA satellite requirements published that year. Following nearly a decade of instrument planning, spacecraft fabrication was contracted to
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Lockheed Martin Space is one of the four major business divisions of Lockheed Martin. It has its headquarters in Littleton, Colorado, with additional sites in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; Sunnyvale, California; Santa Cruz, California; Huntsville ...
in 2008; construction of GOES-16 began in 2012 and lasted until 2014 when the satellite entered the testing phase. After several launch delays, GOES-16 launched from
Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral () is a cape (geography), cape in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. Officially Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated ...
on 19 November 2016 aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA)
Atlas V Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas (rocket family), Atlas launch vehicle family. It was developed by Lockheed Martin and has been operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA) since 2006. Primarily used to ...
. The spacecraft reached an initial geostationary orbit several days later, beginning a yearlong non-operational checkout and validation phase. In November 2017, GOES-16 began a drift to its operational GOES East position, and was declared as fully operational on 18 December 2017. The satellite is expected to have an operational lifespan of ten years, with five additional years as a backup for successive GOES spacecraft.


Background


Instrument conceptualization

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) program began as a joint effort between the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the United States's civil space program, aeronautics research and space research. Established in 1958, it su ...
(NASA) and the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, ...
 (NOAA) in 1975 to develop geostationary
weather satellite A weather satellite or meteorological satellite is a type of Earth observation satellite that is primarily used to monitor the weather and climate of the Earth. Satellites are mainly of two types: polar orbiting (covering the entire Earth asyn ...
s following the success of the
Applications Technology Satellite The Applications Technology Satellites (ATS) were a series of experimental satellites launched by NASA, under the supervision of, among others, Wernher von Braun. The program was launched in 1966 to test the feasibility of placing a satellite int ...
(ATS) and Synchronous Meteorological Satellite programs beginning in 1966. In the 1999 ''Operational Requirements Document (ORD) for the Evolution of Future NOAA Operational Geostationary Satellites'', NOAA listed instrument requirements for the next generation of GOES
imager An image sensor or imager is a sensor that detects and conveys information used to form an image. It does so by converting the variable attenuation of light waves (as they pass through or reflect off objects) into signals, small bursts of curren ...
and sounder. Top priorities included continuous observation capabilities, the ability to observe weather phenomena at all spatial scales, and improved spatial and temporal resolution for both the imager and sounder. These specifications laid the conceptual foundations for the instruments that would eventually be included with GOES-16. More concrete development of GOES-16 began with the initial designs of an Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), which started in June 1999 under the direction of Tim Schmitt of the
National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service The National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) was created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to operate and manage the United States environmental satellite programs, and manage the data ...
(NESDIS). At its inception, ten spectral bands were considered for inclusion in the new ABI, derived from six instruments on other satellites. In September 1999, the NOAA Research and Development Council endorsed the continued development of the instrument with the suggested bandwidths and frequencies. As the instrument became further realized, the number of potential spectral bands increased from the initial ten, to twelve by October 1999. Alongside the ABI, development also began on the Advanced Baseline Sounder (ABS), which would form a part of a Hyperspectral Environmental Suite (HES) of instruments on the next generation GOES satellites. Like the ABI, the HES also marked significant improvements in resolution and spatial coverage. Initial forecasts were for the ABI to be included as part of GOES beginning with the projected launch of GOES-Q in 2008. In 2001, NOAA planned for the GOES-R generation of GOES satellites to commence with the expected launch of GOES-R in 2012, with the ABI and ABS as expected instrumentation. GOES-R and its sister satellites were to lead to substantial improvements in forecast accuracy and detail by providing new operational products for users. Four years later, the number of proposed spectral bands on the ABI instrument increased to 16, covering a swath of visible and
infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...
wavelengths. In September 2006, NOAA dropped plans to include the HES aboard GOES-R, citing a lack of sufficient testing and major cost overruns in the development of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). Although the GOES-R series was expected to cost in total, increased instrument complexity, revised inflation assumptions, and program reserves led to the
Government Accountability Office The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan government agency within the legislative branch that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the s ...
estimating a much higher US$11.4 billion cost for the program in 2006.


Construction

In December 2008, NASA and NOAA selected
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Lockheed Martin Space is one of the four major business divisions of Lockheed Martin. It has its headquarters in Littleton, Colorado, with additional sites in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; Sunnyvale, California; Santa Cruz, California; Huntsville ...
as the contractor for the fabrication of the first two satellites of the GOES-R generation, including GOES-R, for an estimated value of contract at US$1.09 billion. Preliminary design review was completed just over two years later, with critical design review being completed in May 2012. Construction of the
satellite bus A satellite bus (or spacecraft bus) is the main body and structural component of a satellite or spacecraft, in which the payload and all scientific instruments are held. Bus-derived satellites are less customized than specially-produced satelli ...
was contracted out to
Alliant Techsystems Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) was an American Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and arms industry, arms manufacturer headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia. The company operated across 22 states, Puerto Rico, and internationally. ATK reven ...
(ATK) and work began shortly thereafter, with the core structure becoming test-ready in January 2013. The Extreme Ultraviolet and X-ray Irradiance Sensors (EXIS) became the first installation-ready instruments for GOES-R in May 2013, while the ABI became integration-ready in February 2014; spacecraft propulsion and system modules were delivered three months later, finalizing the initial construction phase and allowing for complete spacecraft integration and testing at Lockheed Martin's facilities in
Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
. The satellite was then transferred to
Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...
on 22 August 2016 to undergo additional tests and ready the spacecraft for launch.


Spacecraft design

GOES-16 and other satellites of the GOES-R generation are based around a derivative of Lockheed Martin's A2100 spacecraft bus capable of supporting up to dry mass with power capabilities exceeding 4 kW until the spacecraft's end-of-life. With propellant, GOES-16 had a total mass of , with a dry mass of . The spacecraft has dimensions of . GOES-16 is powered by a solar array containing five solar panels that were folded at launch and unfurled after deployment. GOES-16 was designed to have a service lifetime of 15 years, including 10 years as an operational satellite and 5 additional years as a backup for successive GOES satellites. GOES-16's command and data handling subsystem is based around the
SpaceWire SpaceWire is a spacecraft communication network based in part on the IEEE 1355 standard of communications. It is coordinated by the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with international space agencies including NASA, JAXA, and RKA. ...
bus; a modified version of the SpaceWire protocol was developed specifically for GOES-16 as a cost and risk reduction measure, with the associated
application-specific integrated circuit An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC ) is an integrated circuit (IC) chip customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use, such as a chip designed to run in a digital voice recorder or a high-efficienc ...
being developed by
British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft manufacturer, aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer that was formed in 1977. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. ...
. The GOES Reliable Data Delivery Protocol (GRDDP) complements preexisting SpaceWire capabilities and includes
packet loss Packet loss occurs when one or more packets of data travelling across a computer network fail to reach their destination. Packet loss is either caused by errors in data transmission, typically across wireless networks, or network congestion.Ku ...
detection and recovery. The satellite's instruments collect and transfer payload data to the spacecraft at 10–100 Mbit/s. Spacecraft stability and accuracy is maintained by several
reaction wheel A reaction wheel (RW) is an electric motor attached to a flywheel, which, when its rotation speed is changed, causes a counter-rotation proportionately through conservation of angular momentum. A reaction wheel can rotate only around its center ...
s, gyrometers, and a
star tracker A star tracker is an optical device that measures the positions of stars using photocells or a camera. As the positions of many stars have been measured by astronomers to a high degree of accuracy, a star tracker on a satellite or spacecraft may ...
. GOES-16 is also the first geostationary civilian spacecraft to use GPS to assess its orbit. Such calibration equipment is intended to establish the satellite's position within a radius with a confidence of .


Instruments


Earth-facing

The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) and Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) make up GOES-16's Earth-facing, or
nadir The nadir is the direction pointing directly ''below'' a particular location; that is, it is one of two vertical directions at a specified location, orthogonal to a horizontal flat surface. The direction opposite of the nadir is the zenith. Et ...
-pointing, instruments. These are positioned on a stable precision-pointed platform isolated from the rest of the spacecraft.


Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI)

The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) is the primary imaging instrument on GOES-16, providing over 65 percent of all GOES-16 data products. A multi-channel passive imaging
radiometer A radiometer or roentgenometer is a device for measuring the radiant flux (power) of electromagnetic radiation. Generally, a radiometer is an infrared radiation detector or an ultraviolet detector. Microwave radiometers operate in the micro ...
, ABI takes images of the Earth with 16 spectral bands, including two visible channels, four
near-infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those of ...
channels, and ten
infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...
channels. The individual bands are optimized for various atmospheric phenomena, including cloud formation, atmospheric motion,
convection Convection is single or Multiphase flow, multiphase fluid flow that occurs Spontaneous process, spontaneously through the combined effects of material property heterogeneity and body forces on a fluid, most commonly density and gravity (see buoy ...
, land surface temperature, ocean dynamics, flow of water, fire, smoke,
volcanic ash Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, produced during volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used to r ...
plumes,
aerosol An aerosol is a suspension (chemistry), suspension of fine solid particles or liquid Drop (liquid), droplets in air or another gas. Aerosols can be generated from natural or Human impact on the environment, human causes. The term ''aerosol'' co ...
s and
air quality Air pollution is the presence of substances in the Atmosphere of Earth, air that are harmful to humans, other living beings or the environment. Pollutants can be Gas, gases like Ground-level ozone, ozone or nitrogen oxides or small particles li ...
, and vegetative health. ABI's "red" visible band 2 ( λ = 0.64 μm) has the highest resolution among the 16 bands at per pixel. The other visible light and near-infrared bands have a resolution of , while the infrared bands have a resolution of per pixel. The sensors on the ABI are made of different materials depending on the spectral band, with
silicon Silicon is a chemical element; it has symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic lustre, and is a tetravalent metalloid (sometimes considered a non-metal) and semiconductor. It is a membe ...
used for sensors operating in visible light and mercury cadmium telluride used for sensors operated in the near-infrared and infrared. An ABI electronics unit and cryocooler control electronics complement the sensor unit to power the imager and keep the instrument at
cryogenic In physics, cryogenics is the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures. The 13th International Institute of Refrigeration's (IIR) International Congress of Refrigeration (held in Washington, DC in 1971) endorsed a univers ...
temperatures; all electronics and the
sensor array A sensor array is a group of sensors, usually deployed in a certain geometry pattern, used for collecting and processing electromagnetic or acoustic signals. The advantage of using a sensor array over using a single sensor lies in the fact that an ...
are redundant to ensure operation longetivity. Development of the ABI was contracted to Harris Corporation of
Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in Allen County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 at the 2020 census ...
. Several other companies were involved in the development and fabrication of the ABI, including
BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...
, BEI Technologies, Babcock Corporation, DRS Technologies, L3 Technologies SSG-Tinsley, and Northrop Grumman Space Technology. The ABI takes images with three different geographic extents, with each image produced as a combination of stitched west-to-east narrow image scans made by the instrument. In the default "flex" mode (scan mode 3) of operation, the ABI produces full-disk images of the Earth every 15 minutes, with a spatial resolution of . However, the ABI can also operate on continuous disk mode (scan mode 4), whereby full disk images are recorded every 5 minutes. Full-disk images are composed of 26 image strips, making it more efficient than the preceding GOES imager, which was made with 1,300 image strips. The instrument also images a area centered on the continental United States every five minutes at a resolution of . Where possible, the ABI can also image mesoscale phenomena over two selected areas every 60 seconds at a resolution of . The variable scanning modes make GOES-16 the first GOES satellite to be configurable while in orbit. In addition, a solar diffuser new to GOES-16 allows for calibration of the ABI imaging data. On 2 April 2019, the GOES-16 ABI was reconfigured to use scan mode 6 as a default, allowing full disk scans every 10 minutes. The ABI onboard GOES-16 represents a significant improvement over the imager onboard previous GOES satellites. The sixteen spectral bands on the ABI, as opposed to the five on the previous GOES generation, represents a two-fold increase in spectral information. In addition, the ABI features up to four times greater spatial resolution and five times greater temporal resolution over the previous GOES imager. The ABI is nearly identical to the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) first used on the
Japan Meteorological Agency The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA; ''気象庁, Kishō-chō'') is a division of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism dedicated to the Scientific, scientific observation and research of natural phenomena. Headquartered ...
's Himawari 8, which launched on 7 October 2014. The two instruments share 15 of the same spectral bands and have one spectral band unique to either instrument, with the ABI featuring a 1.37 μm near-infrared band for cirrus cloud detection while the AHI uses a 0.51 μm band optimized for reflectance around the green portion of the
visible spectrum The visible spectrum is the spectral band, band of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visual perception, visible to the human eye. Electromagnetic radiation in this range of wavelengths is called ''visible light'' (or simply light). The optica ...
. Lacking an explicit band for green light, true-color imagery for ABI is created using the combination of the ABI's red and blue visible bands along with a synthesized green band; the simulated green band is created by applying algorithms based on MODIS and AHI onto existing ABI spectral bands.


Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM)

The GOES-16 Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) is a single-channel
near-infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those of ...
detector that monitors for the short-lived light emitted by
lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...
. In mapping lightning, GLM data can be used to alert forecasters to nascent severe weather as developing storms or tornado progenitors often exhibit an increase in lightning activity due to
updraft In meteorology, an updraft (British English: ''up-draught'') is a small-scale air current, current of rising air, often within a cloud. Overview Vertical drafts, known as updrafts or downdrafts, are localized regions of warm or cool air that mov ...
intensification; by extension, such information can also reduce false alarm rates of severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings. GOES-16 was the first spacecraft to carry a lightning mapper in geostationary orbit. The GLM can detect both cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning during daytime and nighttime, complementing land-based lightning detection. GLM's sensitivity results in a detection rate of 70–90% of all lightning strikes in its viewing area. The camera is a 1372 × 1300 pixel staring CCD sensitive to 777.4 nm light with a spatial resolution of at the nadir and near the edge of the instrument's field-of-view, resulting in a spatial resolution averaging roughly . The 777.4 nm band was chosen as lightning strikes have three prominent
spectral line A spectral line is a weaker or stronger region in an otherwise uniform and continuous spectrum. It may result from emission (electromagnetic radiation), emission or absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption of light in a narrow frequency ...
s originating from atomic oxygen centered at 777.4 nm. The latitudinal coverage of the instrument is limited to between 52°N and 52°S. To limit interference of undesired light, a solar blocking filter and solar rejection filter are affixed to the front of the instrument's aperture. The GLM can take an image every 2 ms, or 500 
frames per second A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (co ...
, with a data downlink of 7.7 Mbit/s. Information from GLM is used to determine the frequency, location, and extent of lightning strikes. Data from the GLM can be mapped in real-time using
open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...
software that has also been adapted by the United States
National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
Development of the GLM was contracted by the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center in
Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...
. Unforeseen during the instrument design, GLM is able to detect
Bolide A bolide is normally taken to mean an exceptionally bright meteor, but the term is subject to more than one definition, according to context. It may refer to any large Impact crater, crater-forming body, or to one that explodes in the atmosphere. ...
s in the atmosphere and thereby facilitates
meteor A meteor, known colloquially as a shooting star, is a glowing streak of a small body (usually meteoroid) going through Earth's atmosphere, after being heated to incandescence by collisions with air molecules in the upper atmosphere, creating a ...
sciences.


Sun-facing

The Sun-facing, or solar-pointing, components of GOES-16 include the EXIS and SUVI, which are located on a Sun Pointing Platform (SPP) on the spacecraft's solar array
yoke A yoke is a wooden beam used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals. There are several types of yoke, used in dif ...
; the SPP tracks the seasonal and daily movement of the sun relative to GOES-16, and also supports GOES-16's Unique Payload Services.


Extreme Ultraviolet and X-ray Irradiance Sensors (EXIS)

The Extreme Ultraviolet and X-ray Irradiance Sensors (EXIS) are a pair of sensors that monitor solar irradiance in the Earth's upper atmosphere. In monitoring irradiance, EXIS can detect
solar flare A solar flare is a relatively intense, localized emission of electromagnetic radiation in the Sun's atmosphere. Flares occur in active regions and are often, but not always, accompanied by coronal mass ejections, solar particle events, and ot ...
s which can disrupt power grids, communications, and navigational systems on Earth and satellites. Variability in irradiance influences conditions in the
ionosphere The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays ...
and
thermosphere The thermosphere is the layer in the Earth's atmosphere directly above the mesosphere and below the exosphere. Within this layer of the atmosphere, ultraviolet radiation causes photoionization/photodissociation of molecules, creating ions; the ...
. The Extreme Ultraviolet Sensor (EUVS) monitors changes in solar extreme
ultraviolet Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of ...
irradiance which shape upper atmospheric variability, with an ultraviolet wavelength range of 5–127 nm. Data from EUVS can anticipate radio blackouts for
high frequency High frequency (HF) is the ITU designation for the band of radio waves with frequency between 3 and 30 megahertz (MHz). It is also known as the decameter band or decameter wave as its wavelengths range from one to ten decameters (ten to one ...
(HF) communications in low latitudes and the expansion of the thermosphere, which can induce increased drag and degrade instruments on satellites in
low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...
. The X-Ray Sensor (XRS) component of EXIS monitors solar flares through
X-ray An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...
irradiance, allowing for the prediction of a
solar particle event In solar physics, a solar particle event (SPE), also known as a solar energetic particle event or solar radiation storm, is a solar phenomenon which occurs when particles emitted by the Sun, mostly protons, become accelerated either in the Sun's ...
. The XRS detects X-rays with wavelengths between 0.05–0.8 nm. Together, the EXIS instrument weighs and consumes 40 W of power.


Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI)

The Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI) is an ultraviolet telescope onboard GOES-16 that produces full-disk images of the sun in the
extreme ultraviolet Extreme ultraviolet radiation (EUV or XUV) or high-energy ultraviolet radiation is electromagnetic radiation in the part of the electromagnetic spectrum spanning wavelengths shorter than the hydrogen Lyman-alpha line from 121  nm down to ...
range, succeeding the former GOES Solar X-ray Imager instrument onboard previous GOES satellite generations. The goals of SUVI are to locate
coronal hole Coronal holes are regions of the Sun's corona that emit low levels of ultraviolet and X-ray radiation compared to their surroundings. They are composed of relatively cool and tenuous plasma (physics), plasma permeated by magnetic fields that are o ...
s, detect and locate solar flares, monitor changes that indicate
coronal mass ejection A coronal mass ejection (CME) is a significant ejection of plasma mass from the Sun's corona into the heliosphere. CMEs are often associated with solar flares and other forms of solar activity, but a broadly accepted theoretical understandin ...
s, detect active regions beyond the Sun's east limb, and analyze the complexity of active regions on the sun. The telescope is composed of six different wavelength bands centered between 94–304  Å specialized for different solar features. The GOES-16's ultraviolet imager is analogous to the Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.


Space environment

GOES-16 features two instruments, the Magnetometer (MAG) and Space Environment In-Situ Suite (SEISS), that provide localized in-situ observations of high-energy particles and magnetic fields in geostationary orbit.


Magnetometer (MAG)

The GOES-16 Magnetometer (MAG) is a tri-axial fluxgate magnetometer that measures the
Earth's magnetic field Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field that extends from structure of Earth, Earth's interior out into space, where it interacts with the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from ...
at the outer extents of the
magnetosphere In astronomy and planetary science, a magnetosphere is a region of space surrounding an astronomical object in which charged particles are affected by that object's magnetic field. It is created by a celestial body with an active interior Dynamo ...
from geostationary orbit. MAG provides general data on geomagnetic activity, which can be used to detect solar storms and validate large-scale space environment modelling; charged particles associated with the interaction of the
solar wind The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the Sun's outermost atmospheric layer, the Stellar corona, corona. This Plasma (physics), plasma mostly consists of electrons, protons and alpha particles with kinetic energy betwee ...
and the magnetosphere present dangerous radiation hazards to spacecraft and human spaceflight. The magnetometer samples the magnetic field at a resolution of 0.016  nT at a frequency of 2.5 Hz. On GOES-16, MAG consists of two sensors positioned on an deployable boom, separating the instruments from the main spacecraft body to reduce the influence of the satellite's own magnetic signature. The tri-axial design allows for the measurement of the orthogonal vector components of the Earth's magnetic field. Development of the instrument was contracted by Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center based in
Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...
. The electronic and sensor components of MAG were built by Macintyre Electronic Design Associates, Inc. (MEDA) in Sterling, Virginia, while the deployable boom was built by ATK in Goleta, California.


Space Environment In-Situ Suite (SEISS)

The Space Environment In-Situ Suite (SEISS) consists of four sensors with a wide variance in field-of-view that monitor
proton A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , Hydron (chemistry), H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' (elementary charge). Its mass is slightly less than the mass of a neutron and approximately times the mass of an e ...
,
electron The electron (, or in nuclear reactions) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary charge, elementary electric charge. It is a fundamental particle that comprises the ordinary matter that makes up the universe, along with up qua ...
, and heavy ion fluxes in the magnetosphere. The suite monitors 27 differential electron energy channels and 32 differential proton energy channels, an increase over the six electron energy channels and 12 proton energy channels monitored by the previous GOES-N generation of satellites. The Energetic Heavy Ion Sensor (EHIS) specifically measures heavy ion fluxes, including those trapped in Earth's magnetosphere and particles originated from the sun or in
cosmic ray Cosmic rays or astroparticles are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the ...
s. There are two Magnetospheric Particle Sensors, Low and High (MPS-LO and MPS-HI, respectively) that measure electron and proton fluxes. MPS-LO measures low energy flux over a 30  eV–30 keV range; electrons with these energies can cause unintended charging of the spacecraft, causing
electrostatic discharge Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is a sudden and momentary flow of electric current between two differently-charged objects when brought close together or when the dielectric between them breaks down, often creating a visible electric spark, spark as ...
or arcing across GOES-16 components, resulting in significant and permanent hardware damage. MPS-HI measures medium- to high-energy electrons with energies of up to 4 MeV and protons with energies of up to 12 MeV. Electrons at these energies easily penetrate spacecraft and may cause internal dielectric breakdown or discharge damage. The Solar and Galactic Proton Sensor (SGPS) instrument included in SEISS measures energetic protons from solar or galactic sources found in the magnetosphere. Such protons in large quantities can cause biological effects on humans at high altitudes, as well as HF blackouts in the polar regions. Development of SEISS was contracted by Assurance Technology Corporation in Carlisle, Massachusetts, and subcontracted to the
University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...
.


Launch and mission profile

NASA selected the
Atlas V Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas (rocket family), Atlas launch vehicle family. It was developed by Lockheed Martin and has been operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA) since 2006. Primarily used to ...
541 operated by United Launch Services as the
launch vehicle A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...
for GOES-R on 5 April 2012, with a launch date slated for October 2015 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 41. Combined with the subsequent GOES-S, launch operations were expected to cost US$446 million. The launch date was chosen relatively early to maintain the operation of the GOES
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despite there being only a 48% confidence in meeting the October 2015 launch date; an audit by the Office of Inspector General of the
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in April 2013 highlighted these concerns and projected a February 2016 launch which would reduce development stress at the cost of increasing the risk for gaps in satellite coverage should the operational backup satellites fail. Difficulties with GOES-R software and communications equipment caused the expected launch to be delayed to early 2016, and on 15 October 2015, the launch was pushed further to 13 October 2016. In early October 2016, GOES-R was secured in preparation for the close passage of Hurricane Matthew and did not sustain any damage. However, the tipping of a ground system rail van housing the spacecraft and the discovery of a booster fault on the Atlas V rocket—the same issue that had prevented the launch of '' WorldView-4'' earlier in 2016—resulted in another delay of the launch window to 19 November 2016. On 18 November 2016, the mated GOES-R spacecraft and the Atlas V launch vehicle were moved to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41. ''GOES-R'' was launched on 19 November 2016 at 23:42  UTC (6:42 p.m. EST) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 41 aboard an Atlas V rocket. An undisclosed issue on the
Eastern Range The Eastern Range (ER) is an American rocket range (Spaceport) that supports missile and rocket launches from the two major List of rocket launch sites, launch heads located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and the Kennedy Space Center ( ...
and verification of a potential concern on another rocket had delayed the launch by an hour towards the end of the 19 November launch window. The Atlas V was in the 541 configuration with tail number ''AV-069'' and was administered by United Launch Alliance; the launch was the 100th of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program and 138th of the Atlas program. The Atlas V's ascent was directed slightly south of east over the
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. Following the rocket's first stage, additional burns in subsequent stages steered the spacecraft towards the altitude needed for
geosynchronous orbit A geosynchronous orbit (sometimes abbreviated GSO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an orbital period that matches Earth's rotation on its axis, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds (one sidereal day). The synchronization of rotation and orbital ...
. Spacecraft separation from the launch vehicle occurred over
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roughly 3.5 hours after launch, placing GOES-R in an elliptical low-inclination geostationary transfer orbit with a
perigee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...
of and an apogee of . The spacecraft then initiated several burns using its own independent propulsion systems to refine its orbit to place it in the intended geostationary position, with eight days dedicated to increasing its orbital radius and four to orbital fine-tuning. During the first corrective burn, the truss holding the main engine
nozzle A nozzle is a device designed to control the direction or characteristics of a fluid flow (specially to increase velocity) as it exits (or enters) an enclosed chamber or pipe (material), pipe. A nozzle is often a pipe or tube of varying cross ...
warmed to anomalously high temperatures. Although the exceeded pre-flight temperature limits were revised, the subsequent four burns were limited to less than 41 minutes each in duration out of an abundance of caution, bringing it to its preliminary geostationary orbit ten days after launch. In reaching geostationary orbit, GOES-R was redesignated as ''GOES-16'', beginning a yearlong extended checkout and validation phase. The spacecraft was initially positioned in a non-operational test position at 89.5°W, with GOES-13 and GOES-15 serving as the operational weather satellites in the traditional GOES East and GOES West positions, respectively. Instruments were initially kept dormant for a 30-day period to allow for
outgassing Outgassing (sometimes called offgassing, particularly when in reference to indoor air quality) is the release of a gas that was dissolved, trapped, frozen, or absorbed in some material. Outgassing can include sublimation and evaporation (whic ...
and the clearing of any contaminants in the spacecraft. The first science data from GOES-16 was received from the MAG instrument on 22 December 2016, while the first images from ABI were collected on 15 January 2017 and released on 23 January 2017. On 25 May 2017, NOAA announced that GOES-16 would occupy the GOES East position once operational, succeeding GOES-13. GOES-16's move to its operational position began at around 13:30 UTC on 30 November 2017, drifting about 1.41° per day to a final longitude of 75.2°W; during this time, the spacecraft's instruments were kept in a diagnostic mode without data collection or transmission. GOES-16 reached the GOES East position by 11 December, and following a calibration period, resumed instrument data collection and transmission three days later. On 18 December 2017, GOES-16 was declared fully operational.


Unique Payload Services and data processing


Unique Payload Services

In addition to its primary science payload, GOES-16 also features the Unique Payload Services (UPS) suite which provide communications relay services ancillary to the mission's primary operations: *GOES Rebroadcast (GRB) – GOES-16's downlink is handled by the GRB system, which serves as the primary full resolution and near-real-time
relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switc ...
for the satellite's instrument data. The instrument data are processed as Level 1b data for all instruments and Level 2 data for the GLM. The GRB replaces the former GOES VARiable (GVAR) service used by previous GOES spacecraft. The dual circular polarized signal is centered within the L band at 1686.6 MHz and consists of two 15.5 Mbit/s digital streams for a total data rate of 31 Mbit/s. *Data Collection System (DCS) – GOES-16 also serves as a relay satellite that rebroadcasts in-situ ground environmental observations, typically from remote locations, to other ground receiving sites. The GOES-16 DCS supports 433 user-platform channels with a downlink frequency range of 1679.70–1680.10 MHz. *Emergency Managers Weather Information Network (EMWIN) – EMWIN transmits products and other information from the United States
National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
. EMWIN is also coupled with the High Rate Information Transmission (HRIT) service, which broadcasts low-resolution GOES imagery and selected products to remotely located user HRIT terminals. *Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) – A SARSAT
transponder In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight trans ...
on GOES-16 can detect distress signals and relay them to local user terminals to aid in the coordination of rescue operations. The transponder can be accessed with a relatively low uplink power of 32  dBm, allowing it to detect weak emergency beacons.


Integrated ground system and data distribution

An integrated ground system for data acquisition, processing, and dissemination was specially designed for GOES-16 and other satellites in the GOES-R generation of GOES spacecraft. The NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in
Suitland, Maryland Suitland is a suburb of Washington, D.C., approximately one mile (1.6 km) southeast of Washington, D.C. Suitland is a census designated place (CDP), as of the 2020 census, its population was 25,839. Prior to 2010, it was part of the Suitland ...
, serves as the point of command for GOES mission operations, while the Wallops Command and Data Acquisition Station at
Wallops Flight Facility Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) is a rocket launch site on Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, United States, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and approximately north-northeast of Norfolk, VA, Norfolk. The facility is operated ...
on Wallops Island, Virginia, handles GOES-16 telemetry, tracking, command, and instrument data. A second station in Fairmont, West Virginia, serves as the designated Consolidated Backup to the Wallops facility. The antennas at Wallops are designed to withstand sustained winds of and gusts of up to , conditions expected in a Category 2 hurricane. Together, the ground system involves 2,100 servers and 3  PB of data storage; data processing is handled by 3,632  processor cores capable of 40 trillion floating point operations per second. In 2009, NOAA contracted the Government Communications Systems Division of Harris Corporation with the development of the GOES-R ground system, with an estimated value of contract at US$736 million; Harris was also awarded a US$130 million contract to develop the ground antenna system, including six new large-aperture transceiving antennas and upgrades to four existing antennas at the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility. To aid in systems engineering and data distribution tools for the ground segment,
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was awarded a $55 million subcontract. In addition to GRB, which can be accessed by any calibrated receiver, GOES data is also distributed through other channels. The National Weather Service receives data directly from GOES-16 through the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) interface, which integrates meteorological and hydrological data with the agency's forecast and warning issuance systems. Real-time GOES-16 data is available through the Product Distribution and Access (PDA) system, while archived data is stored on the Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System (CLASS).


GOES-R Proving Ground

The GOES-R Proving Ground was established in 2008 as a collaboration between the GOES-R series program office and a number of NOAA and NASA centers to prepare forecasters and other interests for new products that would be available with the GOES-R generation of weather satellites. The technological proving ground addressed recommendations from the National Research Council in 2000 for NOAA to develop teams demonstrating the scope of new
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like those on GOES-16 in concert with instrument design. The AWIPS-centric program was designed to allow for evaluation and development of simulated GOES-R products and provide training for forecasters. Experimental products were based on both contemporaneous and synthetic data. The first six years from 2008 to 2014 were primarily dedicated to algorithm development, simulation design, decision aid development, and end-to-end testing, while the ensuing years up to spacecraft launch would deal primarily with tailoring products to user feedback. Participants in the proving ground program were classified as developers—those developing the satellite algorithms and training materials for GOES-R products—or users—the recipients of those products. The three primary developers in the program were the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) and Advanced Satellite Products Branch (ASPB) at the
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in
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; the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) and Regional and Mesoscale Meteorology Branch (RAMMB) at
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in Fort Collins, CO; and NASA's Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center (NASA SPoRT) in
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. GOES-R testbed and technology demonstrations were focused on a variety of applications including
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intensity estimation, severe storm development,
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, and
air quality Air pollution is the presence of substances in the Atmosphere of Earth, air that are harmful to humans, other living beings or the environment. Pollutants can be Gas, gases like Ground-level ozone, ozone or nitrogen oxides or small particles li ...
.


See also

* Cospas-Sarsat *
Earth observation satellite An Earth observation satellite or Earth remote sensing satellite is a satellite used or designed for Earth observation (EO) from orbit, including spy satellites and similar ones intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, me ...
*
Geostationary orbit A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular orbit, circular geosynchronous or ...
* Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite *
Remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...
* Space Weather Prediction Center *
Storm Prediction Center The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) is a US government agency that is part of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), operating under the control of the National Weather Service (NWS), which in turn is part of the National Oceani ...
*
Weather satellite A weather satellite or meteorological satellite is a type of Earth observation satellite that is primarily used to monitor the weather and climate of the Earth. Satellites are mainly of two types: polar orbiting (covering the entire Earth asyn ...


Notes


References


Attributions

* *


External links

*
GOES-R Satellite Proving Ground
{{Good article Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites Satellites in geosynchronous orbit National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Satellites using the A2100 bus Spacecraft launched in 2016 Spacecraft launched by Atlas rockets