Final satellite launch in GOES series happens later this month

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Since 1975, the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) has provided continuous imagery and data on both atmospheric conditions and solar activity. They have also been instrumental in search and rescue mission of people in distress.

GOES -- operated by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Informational Service division -- supports weather forecasting, severe storm tracking and important meteorology research. The last launch in this GOES series is scheduled for June 25 from the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida, delayed from its previous April 30 scheduled launch.

It will be launched into space on top of a SpaceXFalcon Heavy Rocket.

The team involved in making this launch happen has spent many years building the instruments and the spacecraft. It involved high intensity testing to ensure it will be able to withstand severe conditions when it does launch.

GOES- U, to be renamed GOES-19 after it reaches orbit, arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in January, and satellite fueling occurred in May. This month, prior to its launch, work includes the encapsulation in the rocket fairing and making sure the data is protected. The fairing will protect the spacecraft from the impact of aerodynamic pressure and heating during its climb into space.

When it arrives, it will be 22,236 mile above Earth.

Its positioning will allow scientists to monitor weather systems from the west coast of Africa to most of North America. It will help forecasters by alerting them to developing tropical storms in the Atlantic hurricane basin. It will provide them with any specific features of the hurricane's eye, upper-level wind speeds and lightning, which helps to estimate the storm's intensity.

Severe weather, no stranger here, will be aided by GOES-U. Earlier warnings will be one benefit. Forecasters will have a tool that allows them to better see the initial development of a storm and its strength ahead of any damaging winds, hail and tornadoes they produce. Just as important is its detection of heavy rainfall to warn of flood risks.

As sea surface temperatures heat up, data will be provided that will help offer critical information of a hurricane's forming. Marine heatwaves -- quickly becoming an influence on fisheries and marine life -- will be tracked more efficiently in an effort to limit the damage being done to the ecosystem. GOES-U will play a critical role in monitoring both.

Identifying environmental hazards is another key aspect of the assistance GOES-U provides. Specifically, it will identify wildfire hot spots, monitor changes in the behavior of wildfires, predict the motion of fires. Since lightning is often blamed for starting these kind of wildfires, GOES-U will be able to identify those lightning strikes most likely to start said fires. Firefighters will derive a huge benefit.

Finally, GOES-U will be of benefit to space weather. It will provide valuable information to changes in the magnetic field that can cause issues with communications, and power grids to name another. The satellite will have several instruments that detect space weather hazards as they approach.

GOES-U, soon to be renamed GOES-19, will work in tandem with GOES-18, NOAA's GOES West satellite. Together, the two will be able to monitor weather conditions from the west coast of Africa all the way to New Zealand.

To sum it all up, GOES-U will benefit us by monitoring those environmental conditions that threaten our security and wellbeing.