Back on June 25th at 9:56pm EST, NASA launched the GOES-U satellite into space from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA will hand over the GOES-19 (NASA gives satellites a letter prior to launch and a numerical figure after in orbit) to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) once the post-launch checklist has been completed. The new GOES-19 satellite will track severe storms, hurricanes, wildfires, lightning, fog and other hazards that threaten most of North America. Onboard the GOES-19 is a new instrument, the Compact Coronagraph-1(CCOR). Many people do not realize that we have a Space Weather Prediction Center, watching over North America and the world to detect and characterize coronal mass ejections (CMEs). These CMEs are large expulsions of plasma and accompanying magnetic field from the corona, which are the primary cause of geomagnetic storms. This will be our nation’s first operational coronagraph that will help the Space Weather Prediction Center to issue warnings days in advance of possible disruptions to power grids, communications and navigation systems. On top of that, this new GOES-19 boasts high definition capture abilities as well as being able to do this in near real-time fashion. This will help improve the accuracy and timeliness of weather forecast. I am also hoping that it will improve the refresh rates of some leading radar technologies so that I can help inform and issue warnings quicker for us here in West Central Missouri.
Information was procured and taken by the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service(NESDIS)
