The GOES-S countdown is underway toward a liftoff at 5:02 p.m. EST. During the last four minutes of the countdown, the Atlas and Centaur propellant tanks will be brought up to flight pressure, the rocket and spacecraft will be confirmed on internal power, and the Eastern Range and launch managers will perform final status checks. A computerized autosequencer will take over the countdown in order to conduct a host of activities in precise order.
The launch countdown has entered a T-4 minute hold. This hold will last 15 minutes. Weather remains at 90 percent chance for favorable weather at liftoff. The constraint for cumulus clouds has been removed.
Good afternoon from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket stands ready for liftoff at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Atlas V will carry NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-S (GOES-S). Launch is targeted for 5:02 p.m. EST, at the beginning of a two-hour launch window today.
The weather forecast for today’s launch is now at a 90 percent chance for favorable weather at liftoff.
The launch blog originates from the NASA News Center here at Kennedy, a few miles west of the launch complex. There’s more to come, so stay with us.
Follow the launch countdown and launch at https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive.
NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-S (GOES-S) is the second in the GOES-R Series of weather satellites that includes GOES-R (now named GOES-16), -S, -T and -U. The GOES-S satellite will be renamed GOES-17 when it reaches geostationary orbit. Once the satellite is declared operational, late this year, it will occupy NOAA’s GOES-West position and provide faster, more accurate data for tracking wildfires, tropical cyclones, fog and other storm systems and hazards that threaten the western United States, including Hawaii and Alaska, Mexico, Central America and the Pacific Ocean, all the way to New Zealand.
More information about NOAA’s GOES satellites is available at https://www.nasa.gov/content/goes.
The rocket standing on the pad at Space Launch Complex 41 is an Atlas V 541 configuration, one of the most powerful rockets in the Atlas V fleet. The 541 designation means this rocket has a payload fairing, or nose cone, that is approximately five meters wide, four solid-rocket boosters fastened alongside the central common core booster, and a single engine on its Centaur upper stage. Booster propulsion is provided by the RD-180 engine system, a single engine with two thrust chambers. The RD-180 burns Rocket Propellant-1 (RP-1), a highly purified kerosene, along with liquid oxygen. Four solid rocket boosters generate the additional power required at liftoff, each providing 348,500 pounds of thrust.
The booster is controlled by the Centaur second stage avionics system, which provides guidance, flight control and vehicle sequencing functions during the booster and Centaur phases of flight. An Atlas V 541 rocket launched NASA’s Curiosity rover Nov. 26, 2011 on its 10-month, 354-million-mile journey to the surface of Mars. The single-engine Centaur upper stage is a cryogenic vehicle, fueled with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The two-piece payload fairing that protects the GOES-S satellite tops the vehicle.
The latest weather update from meteorologists with the U.S. Air Force 45th Space Wing is now at a 90 percent chance of favorable weather today for liftoff of the Atlas V rocket with NOAA’s GOES-S satellite. The rocket is slated to liftoff at 5:02 p.m. EST.
The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is rolled from the Vertical Integration Facility to the pad at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch vehicle will send NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-S) into orbit. The GOES series is designed to significantly improve the detection and observation of environmental phenomena that directly affect public safety, protection of property and the nation’s economic health and prosperity. GOES-S is slated to lift off atop the Atlas V rocket March 1 at 5:02 p.m. EST.
Meteorologists with the U.S. Air Force 45th Space Wing are predicting an 80 percent chance of favorable weather for liftoff of the Atlas V rocket. On launch day, the primary weather concern is cumulus clouds and strengthening ground winds.
Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
Watch the live webcast with NASA Edge during the GOES-S launch vehicle rollout at SLC-41. The live show begins at 10 a.m. and can be viewed on NASA TV and social media at:
NASA TV: www.nasa.gov/live
NASA EDGE Facebook: www.facebook.com/nasaedgefan
NASA EDGE YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/NASAedge
NASA EDGE Ustream: www.ustream.tv/nasaedge
Guests on the show:
Sandra Smalley, director, Joint Agency Satellite Division, NASA Headquarters
Mike Stringer, GOES-R assistant system program director, NOAA
Ed Grigsby, GOES-R deputy system program director, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Pam Sullivan, GOES-R flight project manager, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Mic Woltman, chief, Fleet Systems Integration Branch, Launch Services Program, Kennedy Space Center
Watch the GOES-S NASA Social Briefing live on NASA TV at 11 a.m. at https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive.
Briefing Participants:
Tim Walsh, GOES-R System Program Director
Pam Sullivan, Flight Director, GOES-R
AJ Sandora, Lockheed Martin GOES-R Series Mechanical Operations ATLO Manager
Mic Woltman, Chief – Fleet Systems Integration Branch, Launch Services Program
Gabriel Rodriguez-Mena, Systems Test Engineer, United Launch Alliance
Joe Pica, Director, Office of Observations, NOAA’s National Weather Service
GOES-S Countdown to T-Zero, Episode 3: Rocket Science
The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket reaches another major milestone on the road to T-Zero, as NOAA’s GOES-S spacecraft prepares for launch. Stacking the rocket begins with the booster – the largest component – and continues with the addition of four solid rocket motors and the Centaur upper stage. GOES-S, the next in a series of advanced weather satellites, is slated to launch aboard the Atlas V from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Visit https://youtu.be/gWC9WTQ2Blc
With only two days remaining until the scheduled launch of NOAA’s GOES-S satellite, launch and mission managers are gathering at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to provide briefings on launch status and the science aspects of the GOES-R series of advanced weather satellites. A prelaunch status briefing will be held at 1 p.m., followed by a science briefing at 2:30 p.m. Both briefings will be held at Kennedy’s Press Site TV Auditorium and air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
Prelaunch news conference participants are:
Science briefing participants are:
Meteorologists with the U.S. Air Force 45th Space Wing are predicting an 80 percent chance of favorable weather for liftoff of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NOAA’s GOES-S satellite. Launch is scheduled for March 1 at 5:02 p.m. EST from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. On launch day, the primary weather concern is cumulus clouds.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V first stage was lifted by crane into the Vertical Integration Facility on Jan. 31, 2018, at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The rocket will be positioned on its launcher to boost NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-S).
The satellite is the second in a series of four advanced geostationary weather satellites that will significantly improve the detection and observation of environmental phenomena that directly affect public safety. GOES-S is slated to launch March 1, 2018, aboard the Atlas V rocket.
