When the U.S. launched its first successful weather satellite in 1960, it lasted only 78 days.

Now, environmental satellites have an enormous impact on daily weather predictions. The combined NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration GOES-R Series of satellites continues to revolutionize atmospheric analysis.

A Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite hovers over the same portion of Earth, taking continuous images. The latest in the series, GOES-T, is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Tuesday. It will replace the current GOES west position satellite and work in tandem with the GOES east satellite to provide meteorological data coverage of the entire United States.

GOES-T’s primary instrument will monitor Earth’s severe weather, scanning five times faster than the previous satellite and making forecasts more accurate. In addition to wildfires, volcanoes and floods, it will track atmospheric ozone, sea ice, lightning in real time, solar activity and space weather.

The GOES satellites’ high-altitude, geostationary orbit is in a region encircling the globe known as the Clarke Belt and named for science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke. In 1945, Clarke wrote a letter, published in Wireless World, articulating a vision of future satellite technology. He credited the work of Herman Potocnik, who, in 1929, theorized long-term human habitation in satellites.

First Published: March 1, 2022, 11:00 a.m.