Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite - Future

Future

The GOES-R series of spacecraft is in the development phase. The first GOES-R series satellite is scheduled for launch in fiscal year 2015 and is expected to remain operational through December 2027. The proposed instrument package for the series initially included: the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI); the Hyperspectral Environmental Suite (HES); the Space Environment In-Situ Suite (SEISS), which includes two Magnetospheric Particle Sensors (MPS-HI and MPS-LO), an Energetic Heavy Ion Sensor (EHIS), and a Solar and Galactic Proton Sensor (SGPS); the Solar Imaging Suite (SIS), which includes the Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI), the Solar X-Ray Sensor (XRS), and the Extreme Ultraviolet Sensor (EUVS); the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM); and the Magnetometer.

In September 2006 the Hyperspectral Environmental Suite (HES) was canceled and the planned number of satellites was reduced from 4 to 2 by NOAA due to concerns about cost overruns. The planned delivery schedule was also slowed down in order to reduce costs. The expected cost is $7.69 billion—a $670 million increase from the prior $7 billion estimate.

The contract for the constructing the satellites themselves, as well as the magnetometer system, SUVI and GLM, was awarded to Lockheed Martin. The award was challenged by Boeing, who lost the bid; however, the protest was subsequently dismissed. The ABI will be delivered by ITT Exelis. The SEISS will be delivered by Assurance Technology Corporation. XRS and EUVS will be combined into the Extreme Ultra Violet and X-Ray Irradiance Sensors (EXIS) which will be delivered by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics of the University of Colorado.

The contract for the ground system (including data processing) was awarded to a team led by the Weather Systems division of Harris Corporation, including subcontracts to Boeing, Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER), Honeywell, Carr Astronautics, Wyle Laboratories, and Ares.