NASA will launch a powerful and advanced weather satellite named GOES-S on Thursday 1 March from Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, enabling more accurate and reliable weather forecasts and severe weather outlooks over most of the Western Hemisphere including the Pacific.

GOES-S, a former military surveillance satellite that was rebuilt into a sophisticated geostationary weather satellite, will join the GOES-16 satellite already in orbit. The GOES-S is the second of the new series of geostationary weather satellites by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 

Together, they will observe and provide unrivaled accuracy of the weather, especially severe weather systems with better imagery across the west coast of Africa to New Zealand, including the eastern and central Pacific. 

GOES-S will be able to collect one-minute imagery over tropical cyclones, helping forecasters to better locate a storm’s center of circulation. 

NOAA Satellite and Information Service Director, Stephen Volz said “With GOES-S and GOES-16, we are able to cover about half the planet with the most sophisticated weather forecast technology ever flown in space.”

“We’ll soon see the value of having two sophisticated geostationary satellites in operation, not only in the amount of lives saved through more accurate forecasts, but in cost savings throughout the economy”.

According to NOAA, GOES-16 is in the GOES-East position and GOES-S will take up the GOES-West position once it is operational.

In the Pacific region, the GOES is one of two weather satellites providing high resolution imagery to Pacific forecasters. The other is the Himawara satellite operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency.