[NOAA] It’s official: GOES-17 is now operational as NOAA’s GOES West satellite. In its new role, GOES-17 will serve as NOAA’s primary geostationary satellite for detecting and monitoring Pacific storm systems, fog, wildfires, and other weather phenomena that affect the western United States, Alaska, and Hawaii. GOES-17 allows weather forecasters to view atmospheric conditions in what some call in Ultra high definition in almost real-time.
Midway through a period of routine testing a problem occurred with the satellite’s most important instrument—the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) designed to collect data on Earth’s weather, climate and environment by taking images at different wavelengths (including the visible spectrum). For its precision infrared sensors to function properly, they have to be actively cooled to around minus 350 °F. But currently, the system is only able to produce that temperature for around 12 hours a day, meaning its monitoring capabilities are reduced—although not entirely disabled. According to NOAA certain seasonal conditions will result in approximately 3% percent of the instruments functionality lost over the course of a year. This is a loss NOAA says exceeds a “Key design requirement”
