“A new environmental-monitoring satellite poised to launch into space on Saturday (Nov. 19) will fly a lightning mapper higher than ever before, allowing for better severe-storm monitoring across the United States and in nearby regions, NASA officials said.”
from Elizabeth Howell on Space.com.
The GOES-R instrument, called the Geostationary Lightning Mapper, is supposed to watch lightning around the Americas and nearby oceans to a resolution of about 6.2 miles (10 kilometers).
An advanced baseline imager…will look at Earth in 16 different spectral bands (11 more than the current GOES series) to provide information on weather, climate and natural hazards.
The satellite will monitor solar flares— and the influence of the sun’s electromagnetic radiation in the Earth’s upper atmosphere — using the Extreme Ultraviolet and X-ray Irradiance Sensors. GOES-R will also carry a telescope that can monitor the sun in extreme ultraviolet wavelengths.
During solar events, GOES-R will predict the flux of charged particles near Earth, using the Space Environment In-Situ Suite instrument and a magnetometer.
GOES-R will be renamed GOES-16 when it goes to geostationary orbit. The satellite will do a checkout and validation phase of about one year, and then will begin operations.
From the NOAA.gov page.
GOES-R will scan the skies five times faster than today’s GOES spacecraft, with four times greater image resolution and three times the spectral channels. It will provide high-resolution, rapid-refresh satellite imagery as often as every 30 seconds, allowing for a more detailed look at a storm to determine whether it is growing or decaying.
There are four satellites in the GOES-R series: –R, –S, –T and –U, which will extend NOAA’s geostationary coverage through 2036.
Powerful GOES-R Satellite to Map Earth’s Lightning and Much More