NOAA’s Newest Weather Satellite Isn’t Working Right

Technicians and engineers move NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-S (GOES-S) to a work stand at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla.

Technicians and engineers move NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-S (GOES-S) to a work stand at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla. NASA/AP

The satellite's “premiere” instrument gets too hot at night and engineers are struggling to find out why.

One of the sensors on the government’s newest weather satellites is largely blind half the day, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials, who said tests on its GOES-17 satellite have shown problems with one of the cooling systems.

GOES-17—launched March 1 and currently in its initial check-out period—is outfitted with four space weather instruments, a lightning mapper and an instrument called the Advanced Baseline Imager.

ABI provides the core functionality for NOAA’s next-generation environmental satellites, which include GOES-16—currently in operation—and GOES-17, as well as GOES-T and GOES-U, with planned launches in 2020 and 2024, respectively.

The instrument provides images of weather patterns in the Western Hemisphere across 16 spectral bands, from visible light to infrared. Using these variations in measurement, the system can provide a detailed picture of current weather patterns, including the height of wind systems.

During the check-out procedures, NOAA engineers discovered a problem with the cooling system supporting the 13 infrared bands. Due to the satellite’s location and positioning of the lens, the ABI system cannot function during nighttime hours, severely degrading the data that can be collected.

“This is a serious problem,” Steve Volz, administrator of NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, or NESDIS, said during a May 23 briefing with reporters. “This is the premier Earth-pointing instrument on the GOES platform and the 16 channels…are important elements of our observing requirements.”

The lack of nighttime data from this satellite would mean a loss of accuracy in weather models, were the system to go online today.

The GOES-R constellation is being heralded as a significant step forward in NOAA’s ability to track weather systems, as well as an answer to an impending gap in satellite coverage. Progress on the GOES-R program prompted the Government Accountability Office to remove the geostationary gap from its biennial high-risk list in 2017. GAO researchers have asked for a briefing on the latest developments.

Short-term delays for GOES-17 will not affect weather monitoring, according to NOAA officials, as the GOES-16 satellite in conjunction with the older GOES-15 and GOES-14 are currently covering North America.

Representatives from Harris Corp., the vendor that built the ABI system, confirmed the malfunction and said they are currently troubleshooting the issue along with NOAA and NASA, but have yet to identify the cause of the problem.

Prior to launch, “We conducted comprehensive performance tests of the instrument, including testing it to the vibration, thermal and electromagnetic environments above what it would see during launch and on orbit,” Kristin Jones, a senior communications manager with Harris, told Nextgov. “The instrument’s performance was reviewed and approved as flightworthy by Harris, NASA and an independent review team.”

Harris Corp. also confirmed that the same cooling system was used for GOES-16, which is currently fully operational.

The satellite and its other systems—the five other instruments and ABI’s three visible band sensors—are still operational and will still be useful if engineers are unable to get the cooling system operational, according to Joe Pica, director of NOAA’s Office of Observations within the National Weather Service.

“We are getting degraded performance on the infrared and near-infrared channels—not zero performance but degraded,” Volz said. “We still have a highly capable, functioning spacecraft and mission, even under the current operating conditions that we’re seeing in the initial test period.”

NOAA officials are also looking at potentially moving up the launch of GOES-T, if required, though it is too early to speculate on those options, Volz added.

But that’s the worst-case scenario.

The six-month check-out period goes until August, giving the team another three months to diagnose the problem and determine whether it can be fixed before the GOES-R program is off schedule.

“It’s gonna be a busy summer for us,” Volz said.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.