The primary instrument on GOES-18 is the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), which provides the primary imagery and data used for weather condition forecasts in the U.S. ABI scans Earth five times faster than previous generations of GOES satellites, with four times the resolution and 3 times the variety of channels. GOES-18 likewise brings a Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) and a suite of instruments for keeping track of space weather hazards.
Credit: NOAA
On May 11, 2022, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, shared the first pictures of the Western Hemisphere from its Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-T (GOES-T). Later on designated GOES-18, the satellites Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) instrument just recently caught sensational views of Earth.
Introduced by NASA on March 1, GOES-18 raised off at 4:38 p.m. EST from Cape Canaveral Space Force Stations Space Launch Complex 41 in Florida. The ABI views Earth with 16 various channels, each determining energy at various wavelengths along the electro-magnetic spectrum to obtain details about Earths ocean, land, and atmosphere.
NOAAs GOES-18 is the third satellite in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES)– R Series, the Western Hemispheres most sophisticated weather-observing and environmental-monitoring system. The GOES-R Series offers innovative images and climatic measurements, real-time mapping of lightning activity, and tracking of space weather condition. Credit: NOAA
GOES-18 follows in a long line of weather condition satellites built in collaboration in between the NOAA and NASA given that 1975. NASA normally handles the design, building, and launch of the satellites, with the NOAA operating them when in orbit. The video below provides highlights from the spacecraft and the launchs first hours in space.