A Note from Greg Mandt, GOES-R System Program DirectorWehadanothersuccessfulquarterfortheGOES-RSeriesProgram,withtheachievementofseveralcriti-calmilestonesasyou’llreadbelow.Lookingforward,wearenearingcompletionoftheremaininginstru-mentswhilecontinuingtomakesteadyprogresswiththespacecraftanddevelopmentofourgroundsegment.Ithankyouforyourdedicationandcommitmenttoworkaggressivelytomeetourgoals.Asalways,wewanttohearfromyou.Ifyouhavequestions,feedbackoradditionalideas,emailusatnesdis.goesr@noaa.gov.

Page1November 22, 2013

Engineers at Exelis prepare the completed ABI PFM for transport to its Rochester facility where it will be stored until shipment to LMSSC for integration onto the GOES-R space-craft. Credit: Exelis

GOES-R’s primary instrument, the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI),successfullycompletedtheProtoFlightModel(PFM)Pre-ShipmentReview(PSR)onSeptember26.ThethreedayreviewculminatedwithconcurrencefromtheIntegratedIndependentReviewTeamthattheABIPFMcanproceedtowardshipment.Inear-ly2014,theABIPFMwillbeshippedfromitsdeveloper,Exelis,tothespacecraftdeveloper,LockheedMartinSpaceSystemsCo.(LMSSC),tobeinstalledontothefirstGOES-Rspace-craft.NOAAissuedapressreleaseonOctober31toannouncethemilestone.Inaddition,anewvideoandfactsheetfeaturingABIwerereleased,highlightingthemanyimprovementsthattheinstrumentwillbringtoweatherfore-castingandissuingwarnings.NASAissuedawebfeatureandcreatedaFlickrgalleryofABIimagesinsupportoftheaccomplishment.

QuarterlyNewsletterJuly-September2013

Issue3

Highlights Highlights

…thattheGOES-RGroundSegmentwillprocessapproximately40timesmoredatathanispossibletoday?

Page2November 22, 2013

The Space Environment In-Situ Suite (SEISS) FM1com-pletedsuite-levelthermalvacuumcyclingandaCom-prehensivePerformanceTestatambienttempera-tureandpressureinJuly.TheSEISSMagnetosphericParticleSensor—LowEnergyRange(MPS-LO)completedin-vacuumElec-tromagneticInterference/ElectromagneticCompati-bilitytestinginAugust.ThistestwasthefirstofitskindonaGOES-Rinstrument.

On the GOES-R Antenna System,theNSOF9.1meterantennaupgradecomponents(feedandelectronics)passedPSRonAugust27.HarrisbeganupgradingallfourexistingNSOF9.1meterantennasinSeptember.AttheRemoteBackupUnitinFairmont,W.Va.,antennastructureassemblyiscomplete.

The Core Ground Segment Mission Management System was delivered to the NOAA Satellite Operations Facil-ity (NSOF) by Harris Corporation in September.ThenewMissionManagementSystemconsistsofhardware,softwareandagraphicaluserinterfacethatwillenableNOAAsatelliteoperatorstoprepareground-basedcommandandcontroloperationsandprocessesaheadoftheGOES-Rlaunch.HarrisissuedapressreleaseonSeptember30.

The GOES-R spacecraft system module was powered on for the first time on September 26,atLMSSC’sNew-town,Pa.facility.Power-onofthespacecraft’savionicsandmajorelectronicsubsystemsisakeymilestonetode-liveryofthefirstsatelliteintheGOES-Rseries.ThesystemmodulewillbeshippedtoLMSSC’sWatertonfacilitynearDenverinearly2014tobeintegratedwiththepropulsionmodule.ApressreleasewasissuedbyLMSSConOctober2.

The Solar Ultra Violet Imager (SUVI) Flight Model 1 (FM1) successfullycompletedelectrical,mechanicalandthermalenvironmentaltestinginJuly.LockheedMartinAdvancedTechnologyCenter(LMATC)subsequentlyissuedapressreleasehighlightingthesuccessfulcomple-tionofallenvironmentaltestingforSUVIFM1.SUVIsuc-cessfullycompletedaPSRdryruninSeptemberandispre-paringforitsPSR,currentlyscheduledformid-December.

Power-on of the spacecraft’s avionics and major electronic subsystems. Credit: LMSSC

SUVI FM1 undergoes thermal vacuum testing in July. Credit: LMATC

NSOF 9.1 meter antenna upgraded for GOES-R. Credit: Harris Coporation

GOES-R Mission Management System at NSOF in Suitland, Md. Credit: Harris Corporation

SEISS MPS-LO Radiated Emissions test. Credit: Assurance Technology Corporation

Page3November 22, 2013

The GOES-R Series Program, in conjunction with NOAA’s Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) Program,introducedanewmobilegame,Rescue406,inSeptember.Usersrespondtoadistresscall,coordinateanddirectarescueusinginformationfromNOAA’sgeostationaryandpolar-orbitingsatellites.Rescue406isavailableintheAppleiTunesstoreforiOSdevices.

The GOES-R Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP)thrusterswereshippedtoNASA’sStennisSpaceCenterforintegra-tionwiththeGOES-RspacecraftinAugust.TheSEP(orArject)thrustersusetheelectricpowergeneratedbythespacecraft’ssolararraystogenerateandsustainan

electricarcinsideahydrazinerocketengine,boostingtheperformanceoftheenginebyafactorofthree.ThearcjetthrusterswillenabletheGOES-RsatellitetobelaunchedonanAtlasV541,resultinginsubstantialcostsavingsoveranall-chemicalpropulsionapproach.ApressreleasewasissuedbyAerojetRocketdyneonAugust13.The GOES-R Series Program and System Program Director Greg Mandt were featured in the July edition of SatMagazine. Thecoverfeatureprovidedanin-depthlookatGOES-R,includingmissioncomponents,logisticsandtheimportantbenefitsthesatelliteserieswillpro-videthenation.ThepiecealsooutlinedGOES-R’splansforpreparingtheusercommunityforthenewdataandproductsthatwillbeavailablewiththesatelliteseries.

The Mission Specific Requirements ReviewfortheGOES-RLaunchVehicle(LV)wassuccessfullyheldatLVcontractorUnitedLaunchAlliance(ULA)onAugust21.ApprovalwasgivenbyajointULA/KennedySpaceCenterEngineeringReviewBoardtoproceedtotheMissionSpecificPreliminaryDesignReview.

Proving Ground and Program ScienceThe GOES-R Proving Ground Aviation Weather Test-bed (AWT) 2013 Summer ExperimentwasconductedAugust12–23attheAviationWeatherCenterinKansasCity,Mo.Theexperimentincludeddemonstrationsofsim-ulatedsatelliteimagery,nearcasting,convectiveinitiation,cloudtopcooling,overshootingtopsandcloudproper-tiesproducts,aswellasanumberoflightningdatasetsincludingthePseudoGeostationaryLightningMapper.DetailsoftheexperimentcanbefoundontheAWTblog.

In an effort to promote more frequent communica-tion with the user communityaboutGOES-Rscienceanddemonstrationactivities,theGOES-RSeriesProgram

beganprovidingsemi-monthlyvirtualscienceseminarsinJuly.Theseminarsallowscientiststohighlighttheirrecentworktotherestofthecommunity.TheinauguralseminaronJuly26focusedonriskreductionandfeaturedtalksbyDanLindsayfromtheNOAACenterforSatelliteApplica-tionsandResearchandRebeccaCintineoandJasonOtkinfromtheCooperativeInstituteforMeteorologicalSatelliteStudies(CIMSS)attheUniversityofWisconsin-Madison.OnSeptember27,MikePavolonis,NOAA/NESDISPhysicalScientist,andPaulIniguez,SanJoaquinValleyWeatherForecastOfficeScienceandOperationsOfficer,spoke

aboutGOES-RFogandLowStratus(FLS)products.Pre-sentationsandaudiorecord-ingsfromtheseminarscanbefoundontheGOES-R.govwebsite.

Convective initiation product demonstration during the AWT 2013 Sum-mer Experiment. Credit: GOES-R Proving Ground

The GOES-R FLS products were developed to improve upon the traditional FLS products. The GOES-R products work day and night and provide information even when multiple cloud layers are present. Credit: Mike Pavolonis (NOAA/NESDIS)

Page4November 22, 2013

The GOES-R Program Senior Scientist remotely par-ticipated as an invited speaker at the World Meteoro-logical Organization Training WorkshoponNowcastingTechniques,whichwasheldAugust5–6inBuenosAires,Argentina.StevenGoodman,Ph.D.,providedanoverviewandstatusoftheGOES-Rmissionandhighlightedcapa-bilitiesoftheGOES-RABIandGeostationaryLightningMapper(GLM).

The GOES-R System Program Director represented NOAA at the 2013 European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMET-SAT) Meteorological Satellite ConferenceSeptember16–20inVienna,Austria.GregMandtpresentedastatusofcurrentNOAAsatelliteactivitiesandanupdateontheGOES-RProgram.The final report for the NOAA Satellite ConferencewasreleasedonAugust22.Thereportincludedsummariesfromeachpresentation,recommendationsanduserfeed-back,surveyresultsandmore.Thereportcanbedown-loadedfromtheGOES-R.govwebsite.

The GOES-R GLM Science Team Meeting was held Sep-tember 24–26attheUniversityofAlabamainHuntsville/NASAMarshallSpaceFlightCenterfacilityinHuntsville,Ala.AbroadrepresentationofresearchandoperationalscientistsfromNOAA/NESDIS,GOES-R,NationalWeatherService,OfficeofAtmosphericResearch,NASA,InstitutoNacionaldePesquisasEspaciais(InPEBrazil),EUMETSAT,universitiesandNWScommercialdataprovidersparticipat-ed.Sessionsandpresentationsaddressedlightningscienceandforecast/warningapplications,forecasteruseoftotallightningattheprovinggrounds,calibration/validationandproposedfieldcampaigns(nationalandinternational)andtraining.

Conferences and Events

National Weather Service Warning Decision Training Branch GOES-R Lead Jim LaDue discusses warning decision-making and training at the GLM Science Team Meeting. Credit: Steve Goodman

Connect With Us!

The GOES-14 imager completed a two-week Super Rapid Scan Operations (SRSO)experimentforGOES-RonAugust28.Aftertheexperiment,GOES-14wasre-turnedtoanormalstoragemodeconfigurationwiththeinstrumentsturnedoff.Manyuniqueone-minuteimag-erydatasetswereacquired,includingdevelopingseverestorms,fires(suchastheYosemiteRimFire),smokeandfog.ThesedatawereusedoperationallyatanumberofnationalcentersandwillhelpforecastersbetterprepareforthenewmesoscaleimagerycapabilitythatwillbeavailablefromtheABIonGOES-R.Moreinformation,imagesandanimationscanbefoundontheCIMSSSRSOpageandCIMSSblog.

GOES-14 visible (left) and Infrared (right) imagery of the Yosemite Rim Fire on August 27. Credit: CIMSS