GOES-16 transmits first pictures, begins calibration (January 23, 2017).
Beginning an era of âhigh definition from the heavensâ in weather imagery, the GOES-16 satellite transmitted its first pictures back to Earth earlier this week.
With over four times the resolution of similar instruments on previous GOES satellites, GOES-16's Advanced Baseline Imager captured the North American continent for the first time. The satellite's increased resolution will help forecasters pinpoint with greater precision weather phenomena on the Earth's surface. Like previous GOES satellites, the spacecraft used Earth's Moon to calibrate its instruments, and the ABI took this stunning image of Earth's limb with a waxing gibbous Moon next to it.
NOAA will announce the final location of GOES-16 in May. The satellite will replace either the GOES-East or GOES West satellite in Geostationary Orbit once NOAA determines which orbital spot the new satellite will be the most effective in. GOES-16 launched on November 19 from Cape Canaveral as GOES-R. Once it successfully reached orbit, it was renamed to GOES-16. GOES-16 is the first of four new space weather stations NOAA plans to launch over the coming years. The new series will revolutionize American weather forecasting. P/C: NOAA
