SpaceX's Falcon Heavy to Launch NOAA's GOES-U Satellite

TapTechNews May 31st news, SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket will be reused. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said its GOES-U weather satellite is scheduled to launch on board SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket at the end of June.

According to the official announcement, the launch window for this mission is 5:16 pm Eastern Time in the US on June 25 (5:16 am the next day in Beijing time).

Earlier this year, the fourth satellite in the GOES-R series had already been transported from the Lockheed Martin headquarters to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and it is expected to be launched from Launch Pad 39A.

The NASA Launch Services Program GOES-U mission manager Rex Engelhardt said, It will be encapsulated on June 13, transported to Launch Pad 39A on June 14, and then we will conduct some final tests and configurations, We will be ready to assemble the satellite with the Falcon Heavy on June 22 and transport it to the launch pad with the Falcon Heavy on June 23.

TapTechNews learned from public information that the first satellite in this series, GOES-R, was launched in 2016, followed by the launches of GOES-S and GOES-T satellites in 2018 and 2022. Compared to the first three satellites, GOES-U will be the most advanced satellite in this series.

The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center GOES-R flight project manager John Deily said, The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hopes to build the best spacecraft, combining all the upgrades and lessons learned from the development and operation of the first three spacecraft. Our team has integrated all the design process improvements in the construction of the first three ships to create the best GOES satellite.

According to the introduction, GOES-U will also contain a brand new Compact Coronagraph (CCOR) tool to assist in space weather forecasting. Compared to the LASCO coronagraph carried on the NASA/European Space Agency's SOHO spacecraft launched in 1995, it is a revolutionary upgrade and can provide clearer images of the corona. The CCOR instrument has been strictly involved in testing and is ready to be the first coronagraph to operate in geosynchronous orbit and continuously take spectacular images of the corona of our sun.