Story at a glance
- NASA launched a special weather satellite into space on Tuesday.
- Called the GOES-T, it will help monitor and detect severe weather across the Western Hemisphere.
- GOES-T will aid with detecting and monitoring fires, hurricanes, flooding, air quality and much more.
As the U.S. experiences more and more severe weather events, a special satellite was launched into space on Tuesday that aims to help scientists on Earth predict hurricanes, lightning strikes and fires.
NASA successfully launched a third satellite in a series of next-generation weather satellites for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Called the GOES-T satellite, it will provide continuous coverage of weather and hazardous environmental conditions across the entire Western Hemisphere.
GOES-T will eventually position itself about 22,300 miles above Earth, at which point it will be renamed GOES-18.
“GOES satellites help us every day. They bring advanced new capabilities to help forecasters better monitor and predict dangerous environmental conditions like hurricanes, thunderstorms, floods, and fires,” said John Gagosian, director of NASA’s joint agency satellite division, in a statement.
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GOES-T is the third satellite in a series of weather satellites that provide advanced imagery and atmospheric measurements, real-time mapping of lightning activity and space weather monitoring. Once in orbit, GOES-18 will work in tandem with GOES-16, another NOAA satellite, and the two will watch over more than half the globe —from the west coast of Africa to New Zealand.
What makes these weather satellites so special is the technology they use, which includes the geostationary lightning mapper (GLM), the first instrument of its kind ever flown in geostationary orbit. GLM data can help forecasters focus on initial thunderstorm development and intensifying severe storms before they produce damaging winds, hail or even tornadoes.
GOES satellites also have a host of other instruments that can detect and monitor approaching space weather hazards. When used together, they can contribute to forecasting and early warning disruptions to power utilities on Earth, communication and navigation systems and even radiation damage to other orbiting satellites.
Notably, GOES-18 will help with fire detection, monitoring and intensity estimation, a major issue that plagues states like California and Colorado. NASA estimates that eight of California’s 10 largest fires on record happened within the past five years, with the Dixie fire of 2021 and the August fire of 2020 burning nearly 1 million acres — an area larger than the state of Rhode Island.
“These observations are a key part of our research towards improving understanding and models of climate, weather, and space weather – models that, in turn, support NOAA’s crucial work as they lead the weather and space weather forecasts for the nation,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA headquarters.
GOES-18 will watch over the western contiguous U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, Central America and the Pacific Ocean.
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