GOES-R Spacecraft Overview
The GOES-R series spacecraft bus will be three-axis stabilized and designed for 10 years of on-orbit operation preceded by up to five years of on-orbit storage. The satellite will be able to operate through periodic station-keeping and momentum adjust maneuvers, which will allow for near-continuous instrument observations. Other notable performance elements include: vibration isolation for the Earth-pointed optical bench and high-speed spacecraft-to-instrument interfaces designed to maximize science data collection. The cumulative time that GOES-R series science data collection (including imaging) will be interrupted due to all momentum management, station-keeping, and yaw flip maneuvers will be under 120 minutes/year. This is a nearly two orders of magnitude improvement compared to the current GOES satellites. The spacecraft will carry three classifications of instruments: nadir-pointing, solar-pointing, and in-situ.
The satellite driving requirements are:
- Spacecraft on-orbit life of 15 years with orbit East-West and North-South position maintained to within +/-0.1 degree
- Collect and transmit up to 100Mbps instrument payload data from each location continuously
- Continuous rebroadcast function at L-Band up to 31 Mbps utilizing dual polarization
- Provide continuing services [Search and Rescue, Data System Collection, Emergency Manager’s Weather Information Network (EMWIN)]
Spacecraft Specifications:
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6.1 m x 5.6 m x 3.9 m (20.0 ft x 18.4 ft x 12.8 ft)
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2,857 kg (6,299 lbs) dry mass
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5,192 kg (11,446 lbs) at launch (fueled)
Spacecraft Status
- November 29, 2016: GOES-R achieved geostationary orbit
- November 19, 2016: GOES-R launched
- August 22, 2016: GOES-R arrived at Kennedy Space Center
- July 2016: GOES-R Pre-Shipment Review complete
- July 2016: All environmental, mechanical and electromagnetic testing is complete
- January 2015: All GOES-R instruments integrated with the spacecraft
- September 2014: System Module and Core Module successfully mated
- April 2014: System Module delivered to Lockheed Martin, Denver
- March 2014: Propulsion Core Module delivered to Lockheed Martin, Denver