Monday, June 14, 2010

Revived weather satellite instrument sees "miraculous" first light

A key instrument on a recently launched national weather satellite has been revived after nearly being left for dead, NASA and Lockheed Martin Corp. announced today.

Engineers had struggled to turn on the Solar X-ray Imager, or SXI, on the GOES-15 spacecraft due to an electrical short.

Renamed from GOES-P after reaching orbit, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite launched March 4 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket.

Twelve days later, the satellite reached its target orbit about 22,300 miles above Earth, and it took its first picture of Earth in early April.

But the solar imager would not turn on after repeated tests. Finally, on June 3, after about 16 hours of tests, the proper voltages were restored to the Lockheed Martin-built instrument.

"Frankly, we were down to our last straw when all the teams' hard work and efforts finally paid off," Andre' Dress, GOES N-P Deputy Project Manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md, said in a statement. "We now believe we have a full recovery of the instrument's functionality! It's an incredible story and a true testament of our NASA/contractor teams expertise, hard work and determination."

A NASA press release called the instrument's "first light" image of the sun "miraculous."

The $499 million GOES-15 mission is the last in a series of NOAA meteorological satellites launched by NASA's Launch Services Program and built by The Boeing Co. under the oversight of NASA's Goddard center.

The satellite will be kept in on-orbit storage until needed, likely within two years. Three other Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) satellites are now in service.

The satellites provide the most accurate meteorological data yet to help forecasters predict severe weather. The Solar X-ray Imager will help monitor space weather that can disable high-tech systems including satellites and power grids.

IMAGE: Above, "first Light" image from the Lockheed Martin-built Solar X-ray Imager (SXI) on the NOAA GOES-15 spacecraft. Credit: Lockheed Martin Corp. Below, From approximately 22,236 miles in space, NOAA's newest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite - GOES-15 - took its first full visible image of the Earth on April 6, 2010 at 1:33 p.m. EDT. Credit: NOAA/NASA/SSEC.

No comments: