Earlier this week NASA's GOES-P meteorological satellite was installed onto the Delta IV stages in place at Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in preparation for the planned launch the evening of March 2. This will be the third and final spacecraft to be launched in the GOES N series of geostationary weather satellites.
The GEO-P satellite includes a wide range of instruments. In addition to sensors to provide the satellite weather images we're familiar with, the spacecraft includes sensors for monitoring "space weather" affected by emissions from the sun.
After the launch of GOES P, NOAA plans to activate GOES-13 and drift it eastward from 105 degrees West Longitude (WL) to 70 degrees WL to replace GOES-12. GOES-12 will move to 60 degrees WL to provide coverage for South America. NASA turned GOES-14, launched last June, over to NOAA on December 14, 2009. It will remain in normal mode at the 105 degree WL storage location to provide operational X-ray sensor coverage to NOAA's SWPC (Space Weather Prediction Center). GOES-11 provides "west" coverage from 135 degrees WL.
