Goodbye old friend
I remember when GOES-10 was launched in April, 1997. I was excited about the next generation of weather satellite and the improvement in satellite imagery that was sure to make my job easier and more exciting. GOES-10 did not fail! It was originally scheduled for a five year mission, but lasted for 12. GOES-10 tracked some of the most memorable hurricanes in the past decade, including Hurricane Mitch, which clobbered Central America in 1998, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. On December 12, 2009 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officially deactivated GOES-10.
After launch in 1997, GOES-10 established an orbit 22,000 miles above the Earth, and was originally positioned as the GOES-WEST satellite... which monitors the Pacific Ocean and the western Half of North America. GOES-10 spent nine years in that position, and was finally replaced by a newer model, GOES-11, in 2006. Instead of turning off a still functioning satellite, NOAA moved GOES-10 to help monitor hurricanes in the Atlantic for the past few hurricane seasons, and to watch South America.
At long last, our friend GOES-10 is obsolete. The newest generation of weather satellites are currently in orbit and are waiting their turn at tracking future storms. GOES-11 remains the western satellite. GOES-12 which has been covering the eastern half of the nation will be moved to take over GOES-10 final job of watching the tropics and South America. This move will occur in May, 2010... and when it does happen, GOES-13 will be activated as the new eastern satellite. A fourth satellite, GOES-14 is undergoing post-launch tests, and will be in orbital storage until it is needed.
Enjoy retirement GOES-10!!!
Posted by
on 01/19 at 02:56 PM
