NASA successfully launches advanced weather satellite for storm forecasting

NASA has launched its first advanced weather satellite, which can provide better forecasts of severe weather. This should make forecasts for storms, for example, more accurate, so that lives can be saved, according to NASA.

The new satellite, named Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R, is the first in a series to be launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. According to NASA, the weather satellite was successfully launched and put into orbit on Saturday night. The measuring instruments will be deployed in the near future, after which it is expected that it will take another year before it is fully operational.

There are a total of six types of measuring instruments on board, including a lightning meter for the first time. Earth’s weather is further measured with an array of light sensors, ten of which fall in the infrared spectrum, four in the near infrared spectrum and two in the visible spectrum. Incidentally, measurements are not only carried out on earth; the satellite also points to the sun and the universe for measurements.

Collectively, the new satellite should provide 34 new or improved ‘weather products’, according to NASA. The weather satellites will also become part of Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking, a search and rescue system. This is because it will receive distress signals, for example from ships that have encountered heavy weather at sea.

The improvements in weather forecasting brought by the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite series should also provide better warnings for severe weather. For example, storms must be better predicted, and lives saved by earlier warnings.