This article was accepted into the corpus but its outbound wikilinks were never NER-processed — typical at the deepest BFS hop or when the run's entity cap was reached. No expansion funnel to show.
| GOES-15 | |
|---|---|
| Name | GOES-15 |
| Names list | Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-15 |
| Mission type | Weather satellite |
| Operator | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |
| Cospar id | 2010-041A |
| Satcat | 37235 |
| Mission duration | 12 years (planned), 14 years (actual operational) |
| Spacecraft | GOES-N series |
| Manufacturer | Lockheed Martin |
| Launch mass | 3200 kg |
| Power | 1250 watts |
| Launch date | 2010-03-04 |
| Launch rocket | Atlas V |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral Air Force Station |
| Launch contractor | United Launch Alliance |
| Orbit reference | Geocentric orbit |
| Orbit regime | Geostationary orbit |
| Instruments | Imager, Sounder, Solar X-ray Imager, Magnetometer |
GOES-15 is a geostationary weather satellite developed for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in partnership with National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It provided visible, infrared, and space weather observations to support forecasting by agencies such as the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center. The satellite formed part of the GOES-N series built by Lockheed Martin and launched on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
GOES-15 was procured under the GOES program overseen by NOAA and NASA and contributed to continental and oceanic surveillance relied upon by the National Weather Service, National Hurricane Center, Ocean Prediction Center, and Aviation Weather Center. It complemented assets like GOES-13 and GOES-16 to create a constellation used by meteorological agencies including Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Mexican Servicio Meteorológico Nacional. The mission objectives included imaging for mesoscale convective systems, sounding for temperature and moisture profiles used by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and National Centers for Environmental Prediction, and space weather monitoring supporting the Federal Aviation Administration and United States Air Force satellite operators.
The spacecraft bus was produced by Lockheed Martin using heritage from the GOES-N series and incorporated redundancy standards similar to satellites used by EUMETSAT and the Japanese Meteorological Agency. Primary instruments included the imager and sounder suites derived from radiometric designs used by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program and cooperative programs with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The payload featured a visible and infrared imager that provided multispectral channels used by forecasters at the National Weather Service and researchers at institutions like Scripps Institution of Oceanography and NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. A solar X-ray imager and extreme ultraviolet sensors supported space weather monitoring for organizations such as the Space Weather Prediction Center and the Air Force Research Laboratory. The spacecraft carried a magnetometer and particle detectors that provided data to entities including the International Space Environment Service and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Communications and ground segment interoperability were managed with standards adopted from Joint Polar Satellite System ground systems and coordinated with NASA Ames Research Center and NOAA Satellites and Information Service.
GOES-15 launched aboard an Atlas V rocket manufactured by United Launch Alliance from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 41, in a mission supported by teams from Kennedy Space Center, Vandenberg Air Force Base planners, and contractors including Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. After insertion into geostationary transfer orbit the satellite executed apogee maneuvers under guidance from flight dynamics specialists at NOAA and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to reach a Geostationary orbit east longitude slot used in coordination with neighboring platforms like GOES-13 and international assets such as Meteosat and Himawari. Stationkeeping was performed using onboard propulsion systems with operations coordinated by the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility and ground control at the Svalbard Satellite Station for ancillary tracking.
Upon reaching geostationary position GOES-15 entered an operational phase providing continuous full-disk imagery of the Western Hemisphere to users including the National Weather Service, National Hurricane Center, Canadian Hurricane Centre, and research groups at University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. GOES-15 supported forecasting of events such as landfalling Hurricane Patricia (2015) impacts and convective outbreaks monitored by the Storm Prediction Center. It also contributed to wildfire detection used by the U.S. Forest Service and California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Space weather data from the satellite informed alerts issued by the Space Weather Prediction Center during solar flare events tracked in coordination with the Solar Dynamics Observatory and the NOAA Space Weather Lab. During its lifecycle GOES-15 underwent spacecraft mode changes consistent with procedures used on earlier platforms like GOES-12 and later satellites like GOES-R. International data users included agencies such as Instituto Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología and research centers like NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory.
GOES-15 delivered imagery products—visible, near-infrared, and thermal infrared—used by operational centers including the National Weather Service for short-range forecasting and by the National Hurricane Center for tropical cyclone analysis. Sounder-derived temperature and moisture profiles fed assimilation systems at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts improving numerical weather prediction for agencies like Met Office and Bureau of Meteorology. Space environment products supported communications and navigation stakeholders including the Federal Communications Commission and satellite operators coordinated through United States Space Force entities. Environmental monitoring applications extended to maritime users served by the U.S. Coast Guard and fisheries management agencies such as the National Marine Fisheries Service. Research communities at institutions including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Washington, and Colorado State University used GOES-15 data for studies on convection, cloud microphysics, and climate variability.
After more than a decade of service GOES-15 was retired following procedures similar to those used for decommissioning of GOES-13 and other geostationary platforms, including moving the satellite to a higher graveyard orbit and passivation coordinated by NOAA and NASA. Its archives continue to be accessed by research groups at the National Centers for Environmental Information and legacy data users such as the University of Wisconsin–Madison Space Science and Engineering Center. The mission informed design and operational lessons applied to subsequent programs like the GOES-R Series and influenced cooperative international satellite operations with EUMETSAT and JMA (Japan Meteorological Agency), leaving an enduring legacy in operational meteorology, space weather services, and Earth observation science.
Category:Geostationary satellites Category:Weather satellites