The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has recommended operating three satellites over the U.S. as part of the proposed Geostationary and Extended Orbits satellite constellation, SpaceNews reported Monday.
NOAA’s national satellite, data and information service considers the Geo-XO constellation as a potential replacement to the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R Series and expects it to help track ocean color and air quality in addition to obtaining lightning observations and imagery.
NOAA expects to equip the GEO-East and GEO-West satellites with ocean color instruments, lightning mappers and infrared imagers. A hyperspectral infrared sounder, atmospheric composition sensor and a partner payload would fly on the GEO-Center satellite.
“The approximate investment that would be needed for the Geo-XO constellation is that GOES-R $12 billion number inflated to the Geo-XO timeframe,” Pam Sullivan, GOES-R system program director, said Monday during the virtual American Meteorological Society meeting.
The agency intends to carry out the first technical review of its plan for the Geo-XO constellation in March 2020 with plans to conduct a system requirements assessment by 2022, preliminary design review by 2025, critical design evaluation by 2027 and initial launch by 2032.
