Elon Musk’s SpaceX has won a $ 152.5 million federal contract to launch a major new weather satellite into space.
Friday, NASA announced who had chosen the firm Falcon Heavy heavy launch rocket to transport the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-U (GOES-U) into geostationary orbit tens of thousands of kilometers into space. Once up there, the satellite will collect images and atmospheric measurements of weather, oceans and environmental systems, track lightning in real time, and improve monitoring of solar activity and space-time.
The launch of GOES-U will mark the fourth and final satellite in the GOES-R series, the first of which was launched in 2016. A collaboration between NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it is the most advanced fleet of meteorological satellites managed by the United States, providing an incomparable view of the Earth. While on the ground, satellites are known by letters. Once in orbit, however, they will take a numbered name. (GOES-U will be the nineteenth GOES satellite and will probably be GOES-19.)
The launch, which is scheduled to take place in April 2024 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is a big win for SpaceX. That comes later the competent spacecraft launch service provider, United Launch Alliance, withdrew its offer. In 2019, ULA received a smaller contract to launch the third GOES-R series satellite known as GOES-T (yes, it’s very GOES) and will do so in January 2022. But the company said no had the right vehicles available for the fourth mission, opening the door for SpaceX to enter.
Missions like these are important opportunities to learn more about Earth and space. For example, the new GOES satellite is expected to improve weather forecasting at a time when extreme weather is becoming increasingly common and erratic, meaning it could save lives. Less important, but still cool, is that it will do the same provide magnificent images of our planet.
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SpaceX has been accumulating contracts for Falcon Heavy. In July, NASA chose the firm send the Falcon Heavy rocket to one of Jupiter’s moons to look for signs of aquatic alien life, and in April, NASA contractor Astrobiotic also he chose the firm send a NASA lunar lander to the still unexplored south pole of the moon in late 2023. The firm makes a lot of money of these contracts, which gives Musk, a man already known screwed up work placements, more power. While putting a satellite in space for HD weather observations is certainly great, maybe there’s a more democratic way to get futures up there.