Scientists have launched a new orbit satellite meant to monitor weather phenomenon. Even though it is already in space, the weather satellite is still in its testing phase. Scientists have a lot of tests to perform in order to declare it fully operational. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released some of the first images capture by the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 16 spacecraft otherwise known as GOES-R.
On November 19, the satellite was launched atop an Atlas Rocket off Cape Canaveral. The new images were released on January 23 as they were captured by the Advanced Baseline Imager. According to Stephen Volz, the director of Satellite Information Services, the images comes from the most advanced technology ever launched in space that is meant to predict various severe weather anomalies before they occur.
The ABI is only one of six other instruments that GOES-16 is equipped with. Other instruments include the lightning detect and a total of four solar space weather instruments that can monitor weather on Earth. Scientists have powered up all the instruments and already started collecting data. The weather satellite is currently in its post launch testing period.
The tests will continue on through May and will involve a thorough testing and examination of all of its instruments as well as the space vessel itself. After the extensive testing and analysis period, NOA will decide where the position of the satellite will be located. The satellite is expected to become fully operational by November as reported by Lighthouse News Daily.
The satellite provides images after every 30 seconds during a storm as compared to at least five minutes from a radar to scan a storm currently. From the start of this year alone, there are already 17 tornado deaths recorded in the U.S. Hopefully, having this new tool will keep death numbers down and keep people alive as reported in an article by CBS Sacramento.
