NOAA recovers from latest GOES-17 weather satellite issue, plans to replace it next year - NASASpaceFlight.com - NASASpaceflight.com

July 29, 2021.

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July 28, 2021.

GOES-17 is the second satellite in NOAA’s GOES-R program, a replacement to the aging GOES-N satellites. .

The GOES satellite constellation is NASA, NOAA’s weather constellation to provide 24/7 weather observation of the US. .

Current GOES program.

The GOES-R program began operations with the launch of the GOES-R satellite in November 2016 on an Atlas V 541 rocket.

The Atlas V successfully carried GOES-R to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO).

After deploying its solar array, it began a multi-day maneuver using its onboard LEROS-1c engine, and successfully placed itself into a geostationary orbit (GEO) — at which point it was renamed GOES-16.

A little over a year later, in March 2018, GOES-S launched on an Atlas V 541 and successfully made it to GEO, being renamed GOES-17, and began its year of on-orbit testing; however, this is when its first of many issues began.

GOES-U, the last satellite in the GOES-R program, was not far enough along in construction to be adversely affected by the needed change and is scheduled to launch in 2024 without a delay from this issue.

Newer issues for GOES-17 began on the early morning of July 22, 2021, after its onboard computer triggered the flight computer to enter “safe-mode.” This caused all of GOES-17’s instruments to shut down, and the satellite was temporarily out of commission.

NOAA ground teams quickly began recovery operations, and by the following day the satellite was returned to normal.

GOES-T is the next-in-line satellite in the GOES-R program.

It is based on the A2100 satellite bus, a Lockheed Martin offering for Medium Earth Orbit and GEO satellites, and has been used for military and commercial missions like the GPS-III satellites, Arabsat 6A, and the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite constellation.

The satellite started final testing, to ensure it can survive the harsh environments of launch and space, shortly after it was completed and is set to finish testing in September.

In the following years, the final GOES-R satellite, GOES-U, will sport an additional instrument, the Compact Coronagraph

The GOES satellite program traces its history to the 1960s when NASA began the Applications Technology Satellite (ATS) program to test weather satellites in GEO

Six satellites were launched in the ATS program, the first in 1966

With five of the six satellites, based on the spin-stabilized Hughes’ HS-306 satellite bus, three successfully reached orbit and two were unsuccessful. 

It was successfully launched on an Atlas-Agena and would operate for 12 years

ATS-3 was successfully launched to GEO in November 1967, where it completed communications testing and provided images for meteorological studies

ATS-5 was the last of the original satellites; it successfully reached GEO but began a flat spin after firing its apogee kick motor

The success of the first five satellites led to the last satellite in the ATS program

A sixth satellite, ATS-6, was successfully launched on a Titan-3(23)C rocket in May 1974

The first five of the satellites of this program were nearly identical

SMS 1 was launched in May 1974 by a Delta 2914 rocket, and successfully reached GEO and began operations

In February 1975, SMS 2 was successfully launched and also began operations

With the success of the two SMS satellites, NASA and NOAA started a joint program, based on the SMS program, for operating weather satellites in GEO

GOES-1 launched in October 1975 on a Delta 2914 and successfully began its own operations

GOES-4 through 7 were the first satellites built specifically as part of the GOES program

GOES-4 through 6 were launched in 1980, 1981, and 1983, respectively, but this new generation of satellites started a trend of issues

The last satellite in the first GOES generation, GOES-7, was successfully launched in February 1987 and successfully reached orbit; it was retired after 25 years in 2012

The second generation of satellites started with GOES-8 in 1994

These five satellites were based on the SSL-1300 satellite bus

It was launched successfully but also encountered many issues during in-orbit testing

GOES-11 was launched on an Atlas IIAS in May 2000 and successfully reached orbit and completed in-orbit testing

GOES-12 was the last satellite in the second GOES generation with generation three based on the Boeing 601 satellite bus beginning with GOES-13, which was launched on a Delta IV in May 2006

The two satellites were launched on a Delta IV rocket and both successfully reached orbit where they have served as on-orbit backups