CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A new weather satellite is being launched Saturday that brings the biggest leap in remote weather surveillance since the 1970’s. It will be the most sophisticated weather satellite the United States has ever launched, capable of taking photos of clouds every 30 seconds and mapping lightning from its perch 22,300 miles in above the planet.
You could drive down to watch the Atlas V rocket launch at 5:42 p.m. November 19 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Or, the skies should be clear enough to spot the white glow of the rocket from Jacksonville which takes place after Saturday’s sunset at 5:28 p.m.
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During the right weather conditions people can spot the launch from as far as Key West or along the Gulf Coast.
Weather around Space Launch Complex 41 should cooperate with light northeast winds and partly sunny skies. As of Wednesday, the weather forecast gives an 80% chance for a launch.
The rocket will deploy a weather satellite called GOES-R. This is an improvement over current satellites by providing images of clouds as regularly as every five minutes or as frequently as every 30 seconds.
It’s orbit position — nearly one-tenth of the way to the moon — is in lockstep with the rotation of the Earth. This geostationary satellite will increase warning times during severe weather by spotting subtle changes in thunderstorms and hurricanes.
After a year test period, the The Weather Authority will start receiving data into the stations weather computers 5 times faster than the current ingestion process. “We are really looking forward to the increased precision we can provide to our viewers,” says Meteorologist Mark Collins. “The clouds will be 4 times sharper in focus along with additional products to analyze the images. It’s like going from low resolution black and white images to HDTV.”
It will also spot lightning gathering in clouds, before it strikes the ground with an unprecedented piece of technology known as the Geostationary Lightning Mapper.
Increased lightning activity may be a sign that tornadoes are forming and could reduce false alarm rates for tornado warnings.