GOES R Weather Satellite Will Provide Big Upgrade For Forecasters
LITTLETON, Colo. (CBS4) - A state-of-the-art weather satellite that's set to launch into space in a few weeks will help CBS4's weather team provide more accurate forecasts.
The satellite -- GOES R -- was built at Lockheed Martin in Jefferson County. It is the first of four GOES satellites that will be launched into space. Together, they will provide the first complete upgrade to the weather satellite system in the United States in more than 20 years.
"(NOAA) likes to describe it as you're going from standard definition TV to high definition TV," said Lockheed Martin spokesman Tim Gasparrini, referring to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
GOES R will be able to do the following:
- Map lightning worldwide
- Greatly improve lead time for tornado warnings by as much as five to 10 minutes
- The cloud imager will be five times faster than what current technology allows.
- Provide better mapping of solar and magnetic storms
"It's five times faster, it's got four times the resolution and it's got three times the number of spectral bands -- or the way to look at the Earth -- than the instruments that are up there now," Gasparrini said.
GOES R will launch into space from NASA's launchpad at Cape Canaveral, Florida.