CLICK IMAGE FOR VIDEO (Windows Media Player)
Image above: A Delta IV launch vehicle lifts off carrying GOES-P into orbit. Image credit: NASA/Kenny Allen
GREENBELT, Md. — Twelve days after a flawless launch, NASA and NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-P (GOES-P) reached its proper orbit and was renamed GOES-15. The latest weather satellite will complete its checkout in mid August 2010 and be stored in-orbit, ready for activation should one of the operational GOES satellites degrade or exhaust their fuel.
“The NASA team has done an excellent job and the spacecraft performance has been near perfect. Reaching the proper orbit marks a significant milestone, but we still have a lot of work to complete,” stated Andre Dress, the NASA GOES Deputy Project Manager. “We remain focused on the tasks at hand and look forward to complete mission success.”
Since GOES-P launched on-board a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket on March 4, the satellite has undergone 5 orbit raising maneuvers before arriving at its checkout longitude of 90° West, where it orbits at approximately 22 thousand miles above the Earth’s surface.
NASA Engineers and controllers deployed the Solar Array on March 17 and they will turn on the Imager and Sounder on March 23. The Imager is expected to capture the first visible image on April 5.
GOES-15 is the third and final spacecraft to be launched in the GOES N-P Series of geostationary environmental weather satellites. With two operational satellites, they provide weather observations that cover over 50 percent of the Earth’s surface.
Boeing Satellite and Intelligence Systems operations will transition the routine health and safety monitoring to the NASA Goddard operations team on March 24. At this time the NASA and NOAA team will commence with the post launch verification testing, which will last for approximately 150 days. Once all the systems are checked out, the satellite will be turned over to NOAA for operational control.
Related Links:
For more information about the GOES-P mission and program on the Web, visit:
> http://goespoes.gsfc.nasa.gov
Goddard Release No. 10-029
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That’s better than their last try. That satellite is studying the Antarctic sea floor.
O/T:
http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/03/the_2010_fissure_eruption_at_e.php#comments
“”The big news this morning is the eruption that started last night at Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland, producing a 1-km fissure vent. The pictures and videos I’ve seen so far have been quite impressive, with the classic look of a “curtain of fire”, where basaltic lava erupts explosively from a linear array of vents – you can see the geometry in the image from the BBC/AP (above). Especially clear is the dual nature of the eruption, with both the explosive fire fountains and the effusive (passive) lava flows from the root of the curtain of fire. In many “curtain of fire” eruptions on Hawai`i, the curtain (see below) eventually coalesces into a single fire fountain, sometimes producing fountains that can reach a few kilometers in height. This will be something to watch for in the coming days if the eruption continues…”” (Dr. Erik Klemetti)
Jimbo (19:55:42) :
Sorry moderators for posting another comment but in all fairness I should add:
Congratulations to the old NASA for sending men to the Moon; however, like the new BBC, NASA seems to have lost its way over AGW. I used to work at the BBC and it has turned into a climate propoganda machine. Sad!
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Have you forgotten the Apollo 1 tragedy ?
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo1info.html
Three men killed in a fire in the Apollo Command Module.
How about the Apollo 13 disaster ?
http://www.space.com/news/spacehistory/apollo13_focus_failure_000413.html
Nobody cares that Michael Jordan missed a few free throws.
It is the successes that make history.
Old NASA, new NASA. They don’t care if some people think the Moon landing was a hoax, or think Global Warming is a hoax, or think aliens are running the Agency.
They just do their jobs, professionally. Some mistakes are made, but they move on.
M White (05:35:41) :
“Esa’s Cryosat ice mission given launch date”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8568285.stm
“The satellite is designed to make detailed measurements of the shape and thickness of Arctic and Antarctic ice.
Its data will help scientists to assess better how changing polar ice conditions affect ocean circulation patterns, sea level and global climate.”
Wonder what this one will find
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Probably data similar to what the American satellite ICESat found during its 7 year mission, before it died last October:
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1002/25icesat/
The follow on satellite ICESat2 is not scheduled for launch until 2015.
Here’s what ICESat found:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090708103212.htm
Arctic sea ice thinned dramatically between the winters of 2004 and 2008, with thin seasonal ice replacing thick older ice as the dominant type for the first time on record. The new results, based on data from a NASA Earth-orbiting spacecraft, provide further evidence for the rapid, ongoing transformation of the Arctic’s ice cover.
…But not all of the Arctic ice melts each summer; the thicker, older ice is more likely to survive. Seasonal sea ice usually reaches about 2 meters (6 feet) in thickness, while multi-year ice averages 3 meters (9 feet).
Using ICESat measurements, scientists found that overall Arctic sea ice thinned about 0.17 meters (7 inches) a year, for a total of 0.68 meters (2.2 feet) over four winters. The total area covered by the thicker, older “multi-year” ice that has survived one or more summers shrank by 42 percent.
Previously, scientists relied only on measurements of area to determine how much of the Arctic Ocean is covered in ice, but ICESat makes it possible to monitor ice thickness and volume changes over the entire Arctic Ocean for the first time.
During the study period, the relative contributions of the two ice types to the total volume of the Arctic’s ice cover were reversed. In 2003, 62 percent of the Arctic’s total ice volume was stored in multi-year ice, with 38 percent stored in first-year seasonal ice. By 2008, 68 percent of the total ice volume was first-year ice, with 32 percent multi-year ice.