On March 14, 2022, GOES-T executed its final engine burn, placing the satellite in geostationary orbit 22,236 miles above Earth.
Upon reaching this milestone, GOES-T was renamed GOES-18. GOES satellites are designated with a letter prior to launch and a number once they achieve geostationary orbit. NOAA’s GOES-T satellite launched on March 1, 2022, at 4:38 p.m. EST, lifting off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The satellite launched aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41. The launch was managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center.
GOES-T separated from the Atlas V Centaur upper stage at 8:11 p.m. EST on March 1. GOES-T mission managers confirmed that its solar arrays successfully deployed at 8:28 p.m. EST and the satellite was operating on its own power.
The launch vehicle delivered GOES-T to a geostationary transfer orbit, a highly elliptical orbit where the satellite is close to the Earth during one part of its orbit and far from the Earth on the opposite side. Placing GOES-T in a geostationary transfer orbit provides the satellite a path to reach its final geostationary orbit over the equator (see diagram below). After a series of orbit-raising maneuvers and engine burns, on March 14, GOES-T was delivered into a circular geostationary orbit. The satellite is now in position to orbit at the same rate Earth rotates, so it can keep constant watch over the same region.
Continue reading at National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS)
Image via NESDIS
