Home  Geostationary Satellites GOES-N |
GOES-N (GOES-13) Satellite |
GOES-N represents the first of the next generation of GOES satellites. An advanced attitude control system using star trackers, a spacecraft optical bench, and improved Imager and Sounder mountings provides enhanced instrument pointing performance for improved image navigation and registration to better locate severe storms and other events important to the NOAA National Weather Service.GOES-N was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex on May 24, 2006, at 6:11 pm EDT. Spacecraft achieved geosynchronous orbit near 90 degrees west longitude and as of June 4, 2006, at 2:46 am EDT became GOES-13.On June 2, 2006, the first command was sent from Wallops Virginia to GOES-N. The NOAA Wallops Command and Data Acquisition Station became the prime ground station on Sunday morning, June 4, 2006. The first official GOES-13 visible full disk image was taken on June 22, 2006.
GOES-N Enhancements GOES-N Spacecraft Status GOES-N Databook GOES-N Mission Booklet GOES-N Fact Sheet 2006 More GOES-N InfoAfter successful post-launch checkout, the satellite was placed in an on-orbit storage mode at 105 degrees west longitude so that it can more rapidly to replace a failure of any of the other operational GOES. In December 2007, GOES-13 was temporarily called up to provide coverage of the east coast of the United States during an outage of GOES-12 due to a thruster leak. GOES-13 was also briefly activated in mid May 2009, when GOES-12 developed another thruster problem. GOES-13 was drifted to 75 degrees west and became the GOES-East operational satellite on April 14, 2010.
