NOAA's GOES-U

Timeline

• January 2024: GOES-U arrives at Kennedy Space Center
• May 2024: Satellite fueling
• June 2024: Satellite encapsulation in the rocket fairing
• June 2024: Launch vehicle integration
• June 2024: Transport to launch complex and mate to launch vehicle
• June 2024: Rollout to launch pad

The GOES-U team has spent years building the instruments and spacecraft, integrating all of the satellite’s components, and conducting rigorous testing to make sure it can withstand the harsh conditions of launch and residing 22,236 miles above Earth. So it’s time to launch it into space, right? Not quite yet! 

NOAA’s GOES-U is the fourth and final satellite in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) – R Series, the Western Hemisphere’s most sophisticated weather-observing and environmental monitoring system. The GOES-R Series provides advanced imagery and atmospheric measurements, real-time mapping of lightning activity, and space weather observations.

Following a successful on-orbit checkout of its instruments and systems, NOAA plans to put GOES-19 into operational service. GOES-19 will be positioned to monitor weather systems and environmental hazards affecting most of North America, including the continental United States and Mexico, as well as Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west coast of Africa. In this position, the satellite will be known as "GOES East.”

GOES-19 will work in tandem with GOES-18, which serves as "GOES West.” Together, these satellites will watch over more than half the globe – from New Zealand to the west coast of Africa and from near the Arctic Circle to the Antarctic Circle. The current GOES East (GOES-16) will become an on-orbit backup.

GOES-19 will provide critical atmospheric, hydrologic, oceanic, climatic, solar and space data, for advanced detection and monitoring of environmental phenomena that directly affect public safety, protection of property, and our nation’s economic health and prosperity, including:

• Atmospheric Weather
• Environmental Hazards
• Ocean Conditions
• Space Weather

GOES-U is the last of the GOES-R Series satellites, which are planned to operate into the 2030s. Looking forward, NOAA is working with NASA to develop the next generation of operational satellites in geostationary orbit, called Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO). GeoXO will provide new and improved observations of the atmosphere, weather, and ocean to help address emerging environmental issues, respond to the effects of Earth’s changing climate, and improve forecasting and warning of severe weather and hazards.