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GOES 19 Testing and Transition to Operations

GOES-19 Post-Launch Testing and Transition to Operations

GOES-U launched on June 25, 2024, and was renamed GOES-19 upon reaching geostationary orbit on July 7, 2024.

GOES-19 arrived at its checkout location of 89.5 degrees west longitude on July 18, 2024, and began post-launch testing (PLT) on July 24. The test campaign will ensure that spacecraft subsystems and instrument payloads are calibrated to meet mission performance requirements.

PLT will last approximately six months. NASA will then hand GOES-19 over to NOAA, which will continue checking out the satellite’s data products. NOAA plans to begin drifting GOES-19 from its checkout location to its operational location of 75.2 degrees west longitude in March 2025. GOES-19 is planned to take over as NOAA’s operational GOES-East satellite in April 2025. GOES-16, the current operational GOES-East, will become the on-orbit standby.

GOES-East Transition Plan for Operationalization of GOES-19

Details as of March 6, 2025
Please Note: The following dates are subject to change based on launch, on-orbit checkout activities, and operational needs.

COLOR KEY: GOES-East Operational Satellite

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Date (Based on 6/25/24 Launch) GOES-16 GOES-19
Date Location Activity Location Activity
6/25/24 – 7/24/24 75.2°W GOES-East Operations Launch and Orbit Raising
7/25/24 – 1/25/25 89.5°W GOES-19 PLT and PLPT
  • First public ABI Image (Vis & IR) @ 89.5°W
  • GRB turned on and L1b added upon beta maturity
1/28/25       GOES-19 Handover Readiness Review (HRR)  
1/29/25       GOES-19 Handover to NOAA
1/29/25 – 3/17/25       GOES-19 Pre-Drift Product Checkout 
 3/18/25       GOES-19 Yaw Flip 
 3/21/25 – 4/1/25   GOES-16 “nudge“ to 75.5°W   GOES-19 Drift from 89.5°W to 75.2°W  
  • ~1 deg/day drift
  • GRB Off for drift
 4/1/25 75.5°W   GOES-16 in co-location configuration 
  • X-Band and S-Band downlinks on for colocation  
 75.2°W   GOES-19 arrives at 75.2°W and instruments resume
  • X-Band and L-Band downlinks on after drift for colocation
 4/1/25 – 4/4/25   GOES-16 in co-location configuration 
  • X-Band and S-Band downlinks on  
   GOES-19 Post-Drift Product Checkout at new location  
  • X-Band and L-Band downlinks on 
 4/3/25       GOES-19 Operational Transition Readiness Review (OTRR)  
 4/4/25   X-band downlink off and instruments shut down
  • End GOES-16 GRB Broadcast
  GOES-19 Declared operational GOES-East
  • Begin GOES-19 GRB broadcast / nominal distribution
  • SAR/DCS/HRIT/EMWIN services transitioned to GOES-19
4/4/25    Begin GOES-16 drift to 105°W  
  • Drift using LTRs
  • ~0.5 deg/day max drift rate
    
6/4/25   105°W   GOES-16 arrival at 105°W followed by storage mode  
  • GOES-17 to relocate to 89.5W (Storage Location) after GOES-16 arrival confirmed successful