6th UPDATE: New launch time is 6:42 p.m
5th UPDATE: New launch time is 6:32 p.m
4th UPDATE: New launch time is 6:27 p.m
3rd UPDATE: New launch time is 6:22 p.m
2nd UPDATE: New launch time is 6:17 p.m
UPDATE: New launch time is 6:07 p.m.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — Weather is 90% go for today’s launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 541 configuration rocket carrying a Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R Series (GOES-R) from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
The mission has a one-hour launch window that is scheduled to open at at 5:42 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, November 19, 2016.
A live broadcast of the launch can be seen online beginning at 4:45 p.m. at http://www.ulalaunch.com/ and https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html#public
GOES-R is the first of four satellites to be launched for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA in a new and advanced series of weather spacecraft. Once in geostationary orbit, it will be known as GOES-16.
The spacecraft will provide continuous imagery and atmospheric measurements of Earth’s Western Hemisphere and space weather monitoring. Compared with today’s geostationary satellites, GOES-R will scan the Earth five times faster at four times image resolution and triple the number of channels scientists can tap into to observe global weather and climate.
In addition to weather forecasting, GOES-R carries a transponder to detect distress signals from emergency beacons on aircraft, boats/ships and carried by individuals as part of the Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) system.
Image credit: NASA
