NASA and NOAA launch GOES-U on SpaceX Falcon Heavy

Falcon Heavy took off from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 5:26 PM EDT (21:26 UTC) on June 25, carrying the GOES-U satellite. The two-hour launch window opened at 5:16 PM EDT (21:16 UTC), but liftoff occurred ten minutes later as the weather conditions improved to 70% favorable. GOES-U will be placed into a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) before reaching its final orbital position in Geostationary Orbit (GEO).

At T-50 minutes, the first stage began filling with RP-1 (refined kerosene), followed by liquid oxygen (LOX) loading five minutes later. The 27 Merlin 1D engines were chilled before ignition at T-7 minutes. Just before liftoff, the engines ignited in a staggered sequence, and once all engines reached full thrust, the vehicle lifted off with 5.1 million pounds of thrust.

Less than a minute after launch, Falcon Heavy reached Max-Q, the point of maximum dynamic pressure. Around two and a half minutes into the flight, the two side boosters separated and performed a boost back burn to return to LZ-1 and LZ-2. Three and a half minutes into the flight, the center booster shut down and separated, while the second stage Merlin Vacuum (MVac) engine ignited for the first burn (SES-1). The payload fairing halves were also jettisoned.

Approximately seven minutes after liftoff, the side boosters initiated their entry burn, followed by a final landing burn, touching down at LZ-1 and LZ-2 around eight and a half minutes into the mission. Meanwhile, the second stage completed its first burn (SECO-1) and prepared for a second relight to propel GOES-U into the geostationary transfer orbit.

GOES-U’s final orbit will be a circular 35,786 km (22,236 mi) equatorial orbit, and it is expected to become the primary GOES-East satellite as soon as April 2025, located at a longitude of 75.2 degrees west.

One of the key instruments on board GOES-U is the Compact Coronagraph-1 (CCOR), a new solar observation instrument that images the sun’s outermost layer, the corona, to detect and characterize coronal mass ejections (CMEs). These powerful eruptions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun can have significant impacts on Earth, including disrupting power grids, satellite communications, and GPS navigation systems.

In addition to CCOR, GOES-U carries other solar instruments, such as the Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI) and Extreme Ultraviolet and X-ray Irradiance Sensors (EXIS). These instruments play an important role in monitoring solar activity and providing early warnings about potential space weather events that could affect various technologies and human activities.

Jim Valenti, the assistant program director for the GOES-R satellite program at NOAA, emphasized the importance of these solar instruments, stating, “[NOAA] works closely with power companies, satellite communications, GPS navigation to make sure they’re aware of the implications of the solar storm as well because those are the industries that are impacted by severe solar weather.”

To handle the large amounts of data collected by GOES-U’s instruments, Lockheed Martin, the spacecraft’s manufacturer, had to develop advanced data compression techniques. Pam Calderwood, the deputy project manager for GOES-U at Lockheed Martin, explained, “Lockheed’s role specifically in the geostationary lightning mapper is we have to go through and compress the data. When there is approximately a million lightning strikes in the US every day, that is tons and tons of images. And the way it is able to do that’s it literally goes out and it images 500 times per second.”

The data collected by GOES-U will be transmitted to NOAA’s scientists for analysis and dissemination, providing valuable information for weather forecasting, severe storm tracking, and space weather monitoring. This advanced instrumentation on board GOES-U will significantly enhance our understanding of Earth’s dynamic environment and help protect critical infrastructure from the impacts of severe weather and space weather events.