GOES / POES

Program Home Page: http://goespoes.gsfc.nasa.gov/

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)/ Polar Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) program is a key element in National Weather Service (NWS) operations.

The GOES/POES mission is composed of two geostationary satellites and two polar orbiting satellites. These satellites operate in pairs. The geostationary satellites, GOES-East covering the East Coast and GOES-West covering the West Coast, provide real-time weather data for use in short-term weather forecasting (warnings of severe weather) and space environment monitoring, as well as research and development. The polar orbiting satellites primarily provide long-range weather forecasting, ensuring that non-visible data, for any region of the Earth, are no more than six hours old.

The goals of the GOES/POES program are to:

* Carry forth the U.S. commitment to systematic, global weather observation, providing total global coverage

* Monitor the earth's surface and space environmental conditions

* Introduce improved atmospheric and oceanic observations and data dissemination capabilites

* Develop and provide new and improved applications and products for a wide range of federal agencies, state and local governments, and private users

* Support growing international cooperation in space

* Make major contributions toward international search and rescue operations - Current number of lives saved

* Improve the efficiency of many sectors of our national economy by saving industry and general public billions of dollars a year

* Provide current data for global change research

* Key implementer of U.S. Peaceful Use of Space Policy

Launch Date	A-Z	Phase
19940413 April 13, 1994	GOES I - M The GOES I-M satellites are the primary element of U.S. weather monitoring and forecast operations and are a key component of NOAA's National Weather Service operations and...	Operating
20121231 December 31, 2012	NPOESS The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) is a satellite system used to monitor global environmental conditions, and collect and...	Development
19800909 September 09, 1980	GOES D - H GOES-4 advanced meteorologists’ capabilities by continuously profiling vertical temperature and water vapor. This major advancement permitted, for the first time, the...	Past
19751016 October 16, 1975	GOES A - C The launch of the prototype Synchronous Meteorological Satellite, SMS-A, in May 1974 inaugurated the series of geosynchronous satellites that has provided systematic,...	Past
20050520 May 20, 2005	NOAA-N NOAA-N broadcasts data directly to thousands of users around the world and continues to provide a polar-orbiting platform to support the environmental monitoring instruments...	Operating
20060504 May 04, 2006	GOES N - P GOES - N/O/P is the next series of GOES satellites. The multi-mission GOES series N - P will be a vital contributor to weather, solar, and space operations and science. These...	Operating

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GOES / POES