DENVER – The U.S. House Power is holding discussions with the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration about changing a geostationary climate satellite tv for pc over the Indian Ocean.
In 2020, the U.S. Air Power started gathering climate imagery with the previous GOES-13, a Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite tv for pc NOAA launched in 2006 and retired in 2018. That satellite tv for pc, renamed Electro-Optical Infrared Climate System-Geostationary (EWS-G), supplies imagery in help of U.S. Central Command.
“We at present are utilizing the place we’re calling EWS-G1, which is overlaying the Indian Ocean at present,” Lt. Col. Joseph L. Maguadog, who direct the Electro-Optical and Infrared Climate System program, mentioned Jan. 9 on the American Meteorological Society annual assembly right here. “And we’re in discussions with our NOAA companions about using one other GOES satellite tv for pc to succeed that first functionality.”
Whereas these discussions proceed, efforts are underway to replace different parts of the army climate satellite tv for pc fleet.
A cubesat constructed by Orion Space Solutions to assemble climate imagery launched Jan. 3 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare flight. The U.S. House Power plans to guage the cubesat’s efficiency over the subsequent yr as one aspect of its Electro-optical and infrared Climate Satellite tv for pc (EWS) program.
“We have a look at it as extra of a high-risk, high-reward prototype that we’re hoping would possibly inform the kind of functionality we use in the long run,” Maguadog mentioned.
By the EWS program, the House Power is also getting ready to assemble imagery with a small satellite tv for pc constructed by General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems geared up with an imaging sensor developed by EO Vista.
“We consider that satellite tv for pc will present the mandatory person functionality as quickly as we get it up there,” Maguadog mentioned.
The House Power plans to launch two Climate System Observe-on-Microwave (WSF-M) satellites constructed by Ball Aerospace to offer info on ocean floor winds, tropical cyclone depth and house climate.
The primary WSF-M is scheduled for launch in January 2024. The second satellite tv for pc, ordered in November, is slated to launch in 2028.
Ball has accomplished development of the WSF-M spacecraft bus and the satellite tv for pc’s Microwave Imager (MWI) instrument, the corporate introduced Jan. 10. The subsequent step is house car meeting, integration and testing.
“The almost simultaneous completion of the spacecraft bus and instrument testing mark a major milestone for the WSF-M program,” Hope Damphousse, Ball Aerospace vice chairman for strategic operations, mentioned in a press release. “We’re shifting ahead with spacecraft integration of the MWI sensor, together with a government-furnished Energetic Charged Particle sensor, which will probably be adopted by a collection of house car efficiency and environmental exams.”
