GOES-15 Solar X-Ray Imager's Miraculous First Light

The Solar X-Ray Imager instrument aboard the GOES-15 satellite has just provided its first light image of the sun, but it required a lot of experts to make it happen.

Scientists and engineers from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have been working to bring the Solar X-Ray Imager (SXI) instrument to full functionality since the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-15, formerly known as the GOES-P satellite achieved orbit.

GOES-15 launched on March 4, 2010 from Cape Canaveral, Fla. On April 6, 2010, GOES-15 captured its first visible image of Earth and on April 26, GOES-15 took its first full-disk infrared image.

"Since the early checkout of GOES 15 (P) and the anomalous turn on of the Solar X-Ray Imager, the team has been aggressively pursuing all avenues to recover the instrument," said Andre' Dress, GOES N-P Deputy Project Manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md." Frankly, we were down to our last straw when all the teams' hard work and efforts finally paid off. We now believe we have a full recovery of the instrument's functionality! It's an incredible story and a true testament of our NASA/contractor teams expertise, hard work and determination."

On June 3, the GOES 15 Solar X-Ray Imager finally came on-line. Scientists and engineers had subjected SXI to a series of long duration turn on tests in the hopes of clearing the short. About 16 hours into the testing, the instrument voltages returned to normal values and SXI now appears to be functioning properly.

This first image of the sun from the GOES-15 SXI instrument from June 2, 2010 was a cause for celebration. Credit: NASA/NOAA/ Lockheed Martin

"We were facing a tough problem when we first attempted to bring SXI on line," said George Koerner, SXI program manager at the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company (LMSSC) Advanced Technology Center (ATC) in Palo Alto, Calif. where the Solar X-ray Imager was designed and built. "But because of our ability to bring together subject matter experts from both government and industry, to move forward step by step, and to work as a team patiently and persistently, together we achieved mission success. This is an enormously satisfying outcome."

Since its recovery, several test solar images have also been subsequently taken successfully. The GOES team continue to assess the health of the instrument. This new round of testing will assess SXI's total functionality. That functionality means the team will capture images of the sun with the camera to assess whether the camera is properly processing image data.

"I don't think most people realize how important these space weather instruments are in our everyday life," Dress said. "This data is used by the U.S. Department of Defense, NOAA, NASA, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in protecting our space assets, land based assets and directing flight paths for the FAA."

GOES-15 will join three other NOAA operational GOES spacecraft that help the agency's forecasters track life-threatening weather and solar activity that can impact the satellite-based electronics and communications industry. NASA's testing of the spacecraft and its instruments will continue through the entire post launch test period expected to end in late August 2010. This will be followed by a series of NOAA Science Tests. The GOES series of U.S. satellites are developed by a joint NASA-NOAA-Industry partnership, launched by NASA (with industry partners), and operated by NOAA.

For more information about the GOES-P mission and program on the Web, visit:
www.nasa.gov/goes-p

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GOES-P/news/xray_imager.html

New Video "GOES" Exploring the Sun's Weather

The series of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites known as GOES provide daily satellite images of weather here on Earth, but they also provide scientists with solar data and space weather observations in geosynchronous (over a fixed location on Earth's surface) orbit. NASA has just released a four-minute educational video called "A Weather Satellite Watches the Sun" explaining the uses of space weather instruments on the GOES satellites.

"The GOES space weather instruments provide crucial data for determining the intensity of space weather events reported by forecasters using the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Scales," said Howard Singer, Chief Scientist, Space Weather Prediction Center, Boulder, Colo.

NASA has just released a four-minute educational video called "A Weather Satellite Watches the Sun" explaining the uses of space weather instruments on the GOES satellites. Credit: NASA/Silvia Stoyanova

The four-minute video was produced by Silvia Stoyanova, a visualizer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The video provides information about space weather, interviews with astronaut Paul Richards, NASA GOES Deputy Project Manager Andre' Dress, NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center Chief Scientist Howard Singer and many others to explain the importance of space weather and monitoring space weather changes.

NOAA manages the operational environmental satellite program and establishes requirements, provides all funding and distributes environmental satellite data for the United States. NASA's GOES Project located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., procures and manages the development and launch of the GOES series of satellites for NOAA on a cost reimbursable basis. NASA's GOES Project also creates some of the GOES satellite images and GOES satellite imagery animations.

GOES satellites continually monitor the solar and near-Earth space conditions and provide real-time data to scientists, forecasters, and space weather customers on Earth.

Artist's concept of GOES-O in orbit above Earth. Credit: NASA/Honeywell/C. Meaney

"Space weather" means the conditions on the sun, in the solar wind, and in the space surrounding Earth that affects human activities and technological systems. Space weather can affect satellite operations, cell phone reception, Global Positioning System (GPS) use, and power grids. NASA even uses the GOES satellite data to ensure that astronauts in the space shuttle, space station or on space walks are safe from solar particle events. Commercial airlines that fly polar routes also need to know about solar weather as it affects the ionosphere and high-frequency communications that they rely on at high latitudes.

There are two GOES satellites that cover weather conditions in the U.S. and they are positioned over the eastern and western U.S. GOES-13 is the satellite in the GOES EAST position that covers weather on the eastern side of the continental U.S., including the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. GOES-11 is in the GOES WEST position and covers the western half of the U.S. and the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

GOES-13 has a Space Environment Monitor that consists of three instrument groups: an energetic particle sensor (EPS) package, two magnetometer sensors, and a solar x-ray sensor (XRS) and extreme ultra-violet sensor (EUVS).

The EPS accurately measures the number of particles over a broad energy range, including protons, electrons, and alpha particles, and is used to provide alerts and warnings of hazardous conditions. The magnetometer sensors measure the Earth's magnetic field and provide alerts of changes in the solar wind.

The XRS is an x-ray telescope that observes and measures the sun's solar x-rays in order to provide alerts for potential disruptions in radio communications and degradation in GPS signals. The EUVS is an extreme ultra-violet sensor that measures ultraviolet emissions from the sun. These ultraviolet emissions heat the Earth's upper atmosphere and affect the drag on low-orbiting spacecraft.

The final instrument on GOES satellites that helps monitor space weather is called the Solar X-Ray Imager, or SXI. Every minute the SXI captures an image of the sun's atmosphere in X-rays and provides the space weather forecasters with the necessary information to forecast alerts of potential harmful conditions to space and ground systems.

Those three Space Environment Monitor instrument groups and the SXI operate at all times providing real-time data to the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC).

The SPWC is the nation's civilian "space weather" center. SPWC receives, monitors, and interprets a wide variety of solar terrestrial data and issues reports, alerts, warnings, and forecasts for special events such as solar flares and geomagnetic storms.

To see the Movie "A Weather Satellite Watches The Sun," visit:

http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010600/a010609/index.html


For more information about NASA's GOES Program visit:

http://goespoes.gsfc.nasa.gov/


For more information about NOAA, visit:

http://www.noaa.gov

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GOES-O/news/new-video.html

---

90Q: A Curious Short-Lived "Tropical" Cyclone in the Southern Atlantic

Tropical cyclones typically don't form in the Southern Atlantic because the waters are usually too cool. However, forecasters at the Naval Research Laboratory noted that a low pressure system off the coast of Brazil appeared to have tropical storm-force winds yesterday.

On Wednesday, March 10 at 1400 UTC (9:00 a.m. ET) "System 90Q" was located near 29.8 degrees South latitude and 48.2 degrees West longitude, about 180 miles east of Puerto Alegre, Brazil. The Naval Research Laboratory said on March 10 the system had maximum sustained winds near 39 mph (35 knots) but has weakened today below the tropical storm-force winds threshold.

The GOES-12 satellite captured this visible image of System 90Q at 14:45 UTC (9:45 a.m. ET) on March 10, 2010. 90Q is the small circular area of clouds (lower left center). Credit: NASA GOES Project

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-12 captured a visible image of System 90Q at 14:45 UTC (9:45 a.m. ET) on March 11, and it appeared as a small circular area of clouds off the Brazilian coast. GOES is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NASA's GOES Project, located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. creates some of the GOES satellite images.

System 90Q continues to move away from the Brazilian coast and is expected to be absorbed in a mid-latitude cold front in the next couple of days.

Text credit: Rob Gutro, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2010/h2010_90Q.html

---

NASA Unveils New Space-Weather Science Tool

When NASA’s satellite operators need accurate, real-time space-weather information, they turn to the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) of the Space Weather Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The CCMC’s newest and most advanced space-weather science tool is the Integrated Space Weather Analysis (iSWA) system.

The iSWA is a robust, integrated system provides information about space weather conditions past, present, and future and, unlike many other programs currently in use, has an interface that the user can customize to suit a unique set of data requirements.

"The iSWA space-weather data analysis system offers a unique level of customization and flexibility to maintain, modify, and add new tools and data products as they become available," says Marlo Maddox, iSWA system chief developer at NASA Goddard.

iSWA draws together information about conditions from the sun to the boundary of the sun’s influence, known as the heliosphere. The iSWA systems digests information from spacecraft including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES), NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), the joint European Space Agency and NASA mission Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), and NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE).

Citizen scientists and science enthusiasts can also use the data, models, and tools of the iSWA system. Similar to the way in which armchair astronomers have used SOHO data to discover comets, enthusiasts will find the iSWA system a wonderful resource for increasing their familiarity with the concept of space weather.

This sequence of images is from a computer animation illustrating an artist's concept of Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) cannibalism. Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are clouds of electrified, magnetic gas weighing billions of tons ejected from the sun and hurled into space with speeds ranging from 12 to 1,250 miles per second (about 20 to 2,000 kilometers per second). Solar researchers believe cannibal CMEs may be the source of 'complex ejecta' CME clouds; those with a larger and more complex structure than typical CMEs. These traits cause complex ejecta CMEs to trigger protracted magnetic storms when they envelop Earth. NASA's iSWA system is designed to collect and store data about space-weather activity like CMEs. Credit: NASA

“We are continuously evolving the iSWA system, and we hope that it will benefit not only NASA satellite operators, but also that it may also help space-weather forecasting at other agencies such as the Air Force Weather Agency and NOAA," says Michael Hesse, chief of the Space Weather Laboratory at NASA Goddard.

Space-weather information tends to be scattered over various Web sites. NASA Goddard space physicist Antti Pulkkinen says the iSWA system represents “the most comprehensive single interface for general space-weather-related information,” providing data on past and current space-weather events. The system allows the user to configure or design custom displays of the information.

The system compiles data about conditions on the sun, in Earth's magnetosphere—the protective magnetic field that envelops our planet—and down to Earth's surface. It provides a user interface to provide NASA's satellite operators and with a real-time view of space weather. In addition to NASA, the iSWA system is used by the Air Force Weather agency.

Access to space-weather information that combines data from state-of-the-art space-weather models with concurrent observations of the space environment provides a powerful tool for users to obtain a personalized “quick look” at space-weather information, detailed insight into space-weather conditions, as well as tools for historical analysis of the space-weather’s impact.

Development of the iSWA system has been a joint activity between the Office of the Chief Engineer at NASA Headquarters and the Applied Engineering and Technology Directorate and the Science and Exploration Directorate at NASA Goddard. The iSWA system is located at NASA Goddard.

The Community Coordinated Modeling Center is funded by the Heliophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, and the National Science Foundation.

Related Link:

> iSWA space-weather forecasting tool web site

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/topics/technology/features/iswa-program.html

---

---

Hurricane Season 2010: Tropical Storm 17P (Southern Pacific)

Seventeenth South Pacific Tropical Cyclone Forms

On February 21, the seventeenth tropical depression formed in the South Pacific Ocean. Today, February 22, the storm has strengthened into Tropical Storm 17P (TS 17P) with maximum sustained winds near 39 mph, and it was about 740 miles east-northeast of Pago Pago.

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-11 captured a visible image of the storm at 1800 UTC (1 p.m. ET) February 22. The storm does not appear well organized. TD 17P was located near 9.6 South latitude and 159.0 East longitude, and was moving south-southwest near 4 mph (3 knots). TS 17P was creating 15 foot-high waves in open waters.

GOES-11 captured a visible image of the Tropical Storm 17P at 1800 UTC (1 p.m. ET) February 22. Credit: NOAA/JTWC

Although TS 17P is expected to continue tracking in open waters its winds and surf may impact some land areas. So, regional warnings have been posted for the Northern Cook Islands. Currently, a gale wind warning is in effect for Penrhyn and an alert is in effect for Rakahanga, Manihiki and nearby islands.

TS 17P is in an area of wind shear, and that's limiting any intensification of the storm. It is expected to strengthen a little more over the next couple of days however, before it dissipates later this week.

Text credit: Rob Gutro, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2010/h2010_17P.html

---

---

NASA And NOAA Ready GOES-P Satellite For Launch

GREENBELT, Md. -- NASA is preparing to launch the NOAA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-P (GOES-P) from Space Launch Complex 37 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The launch is targeted for March 2, during a launch window from 6:19 to 7:19 p.m. EST.

"GOES are the backbone of NOAA's severe weather forecasts, monitoring fast-changing conditions in the atmosphere that spawn hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and other hazards," said Steve Kirkner, GOES program manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

GOES-P is the third and final spacecraft to be launched in the GOES N Series of geostationary environmental weather satellites. The GOES satellites continuously provide observations of more than 50 percent of the Earth, including the continental United States, providing weather monitoring and forecast operations and a continuous and reliable stream of environmental information and severe weather warnings.

NASA's GOES-P meteorological satellite is lifted into the mobile service tower at Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Photo Credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

In addition to weather forecasting on Earth, a key instrument onboard GOES-P, the Solar X-Ray Imager (SXI), will help NOAA continue monitoring solar conditions.

"The SXI is improving our forecasts and warnings for solar disturbances, protecting billions of dollars worth of commercial and government assets in space and on the ground, and lessening the brunt of power surges for the satellite-based electronics and communications industry," said Tom Bodgan, director of NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) in Boulder, Colo.

GOES-P joins a system of weather satellites that provide timely environmental information to meteorologists and the public. The GOES system provides data used to graphically display the intensity, path and size of storms. Early warning of impending severe weather enhances the public's ability to take shelter and protect property.

GOES-P will be launched on board a United Launch Alliance Delta IV (4, 2) launch vehicle under a FAA commercial license. The satellite will be turned over to NASA after the successful checkout is completed by Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems, El Segundo Calif.

Currently, NOAA operates GOES-12, (GOES East) and GOES-11 (GOES-West.) In late April, NOAA will activate GOES-13 to replace GOES-12 and will drift eastward from 105 degrees West longitude to 75 degrees West longitude. NOAA plans to move GOES-12 to 60 degrees West longitude to provide coverage for South America as part of the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS). NASA handed over GOES-14, launched last June, to NOAA on December 14, 2009. It will remain in normal mode at the 105W storage longitude to provide operational X-ray Sensor coverage to NOAA's SWPC.

Once in orbit GOES-P will be designated GOES-15, checked out and then stored on-orbit and ready for activation should one of the operational GOES satellites degrade or exhaust their fuel.

Workers install NASA's GOES-P meteorological satellite onto the Delta IV stages already in place in the mobile service tower at Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Photo Credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

NOAA manages the GOES program, establishes requirements, provides all funding and distributes environmental satellite data for the United States. NASA Goddard procures and manages the design, development and launch of the satellites for NOAA on a cost reimbursable basis. Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems built GOES-P.

For more information about the GOES-P mission and program on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/goes-p
http://goespoes.gsfc.nasa.gov
http://www.noaa.gov
http://nws.noaa.gov

For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GOES-P/news/launch-prep.html

---

---

GOES-P All Fueled Up

The GOES spacecraft continues its processing at the Astrotech Facility in Titusville, Fla. and fuel was loaded into the GOES-P spacecraft on Saturday, January 30. The fuel will keep GOES-P in orbit for about 14 years.

Just as you wouldn't want your car's gas tank to leak, engineers don't want a satellite to leak fuel. So, a team of engineers performed propulsion system pressurization and leak checks before fueling GOES-P. Those preparations were completed on January 22.

The GOES-P spacecraft was moved to the fueling stand and the team began fueling the spacecraft. The oxidizer was successfully loaded on January 28. Like a fire needs oxygen to burn, the spacecraft fuel needs the oxidizer to ignite in space, where there is no air. . The fuel was successfully loaded on January 30.

After carefully lifting and moving the fueled spacecraft, the team successfully mounted GOES P on top of the Delta IV Payload Attach Fitting (PAF). This was completed on February 1. The PAF is a conical shape structure that the spacecraft mounts onto inside the launch vehicle. The spacecraft rides on the PAF until it separates at approximately 22 thousand miles above the Earth's surface.

In the mobile service tower at Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Fla., a solid rocket booster for the Delta IV rocket, slated to launch NASA's GOES-P satellite as it is lowered toward the base of the rocket. Credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

The launch vehicle continues processing on stand and the United Launch Alliance (ULA) is working off the technical issues that remain. The team is working towards a March 1 launch date.

GOES-P is the latest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite developed by NASA for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. The Delta IV rocket will be launched by United Launch Alliance for Boeing Launch Services under an FAA commercial license. Launch is targeted for no earlier than March 1.

For information on GOES-P, visit
www.nasa.gov/goes-p

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GOES-P/news/fueled-mated.html

GOES-P Proceeds Toward Launch

The latest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-P is proceeding through more checks in preparation for its launch, which is no earlier than March 1.

The GOES-P spacecraft continues being processed at the Astrotech Facility in Titusville, Fla. The Imager, Sounder and Solar X-Ray Imager have completed cleaning and inspections. The optical port covers have been successfully installed. Those covers are one of the last mechanisms to be deployed once GOES-P gets into orbit.

GOES-P is the latest weather satellite developed by NASA to aid the nation's meteorologists and climate scientists. GOES satellites provide the familiar weather pictures seen on United States television newscasts every day. GOES provides nearly continuous imaging and sounding, which allows forecasters to better measure changes in atmospheric temperature and moisture distributions, which increase the accuracy of their forecasts. GOES environmental information is used for a host of applications, including weather monitoring and prediction models.

Two solid rocket boosters were installed on Jan. 15, 2010, on the Delta IV Launch Vehicle that will carry GOES-P into space. Credit: NASA

Along with the instruments GOES-P will carry, it also contains seven appendages and mechanisms that are stowed for launch and later deployed during transfer orbit or at various phases of on-orbit testing. Those deployable mechanisms and appendages are: Aft omni antenna; Deployable aft blanket (DAB); Solar array; X-ray positioner (XRP); Magnetometer boom; Instrument radiant cooler covers; and the optical port covers.

These seven mechanisms are put into operation after the Delta IV rocket deploys GOES-P into space. Here's the order of how they work: Shortly after separation from the launch vehicle on day one of Launch and Orbit Raising (LOR), the Aft omni and DAB are deployed. At about the twelfth day, once geosynchronous orbit is achieved, the solar array is deployed. The solar array powers GOES-P in orbit. At around day 13 or 14 the XRP is released, followed by the magnetometer boom. By around day 17 in orbit, the instrument optical port covers are deployed at the end of Bus In-Orbit Testing (IOT). Finally, after about 30 days in orbit the radiant cooler covers are deployed.

Two solid rocket boosters were installed on Jan. 15, 2010, on the Delta IV Launch Vehicle that will carry GOES-P into space. GOES-P was transferred to its fueling stand on Monday, January 18. The L-35 Countdown Launch Procedure (CLP) Rehearsal was successfully completed on January 19, and the next day, the Propulsion System Valve Driver Functional Testing was completed. Now, Propulsion System Pressurization and Leak Checks are in progress in preparation for fueling operations.

The Eastern Range has approved the GOES-P new launch date of March 1, 2010.

NASA contracted with Boeing to build and launch the GOES-P spacecraft. NASA's Launch Services Program at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida supported the launch in an advisory role. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) manages the GOES program, establishes requirements, provides all funding and distributes environmental satellite data for the United States. Goddard procures and manages the design, development and launch of the satellites for NOAA on a cost-reimbursable basis.

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GOES-P/news/process-update.html

GOES-P Spacecraft Being Processed in Florida

During the first three weeks in January, the latest in the series of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites also known as GOES-P is being processed and prepped for launch. Meanwhile, the first and second stages of the Delta IV rocket that will carry it into orbit, are being assembled on the launch pad.

On Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the core stage of a Delta IV rocket arrives at Launch Complex 37. The rocket's core stage is the first stage mated to the second stage. This United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket is slated to launch GOES-P developed by NASA for NOAA. Credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

The GOES-P spacecraft is currently being processed at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida. Prior to the holiday break the Payload Attached Fitting (PAF) fit check was successfully completed on December 18, 2009. Functional testing on the spacecraft bus (the satellite) was successfully completed on December 22, 2009.

The NASA Team at the Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida poses after GOES-P arrives. Credit: NASA KSC

Over the last couple of weeks, the GOES-P spacecraft team commenced with instrument testing and cleaning on the Solar X-Ray Imager and the Imager and Sounder. Testing has completed on schedule and performance is as expected.

The first and second stage of the Delta IV rocket were mated in the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Horizontal Integrating Facility on Jan.6. Following the vehicle mate the rocket was transported to the launch pad (Pad 37B) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on January 13th. The vehicle was successfully erected and stands ready for further processing and testing. The smaller solid rocket boosters are expected to be transported to the pad and integrated on January 14-15.

The GOES-P spacecraft being removed from the aircraft that transported it to NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Credit: NASA KSC

Andre' Dress, GOES N-P Deputy Project Manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. said, "Our team has made incredible strides in the past few weeks. Just coming off the successful launch and check out of GOES O, everyone is ready to go again and we are anxious to see GOES P added to the NOAA constellation."

Launch is targeted for no earlier than March 1.

For information on GOES-P, visit

http://goespoes.gsfc.nasa.gov/goes/spacecraft/n_p_spacecraft.html.

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GOES-P/news/florida-process.html

---

NASA Looks for Safer Icing Forecast For Pilots

Of the many dangers that plague commercial airplanes, icing stands out as one of the most treacherous. The threat of ice build-up on aircraft surfaces has been known and studied for decades, but now NASA is putting new effort into understanding a different kind of ice danger.

A well-known icing problem involves ice forming on wings and other surfaces that can cause drag and power loss on an aircraft. A different threat emerges when airplanes fly into clouds with high ice content found near thunderstorms in very high altitudes. Ice particles, once thought benign because they would simply bounce of airplane surfaces, can accrete deep inside jet engines and shut down the power. This is called “ice particle icing,” to distinguish it from icing caused by super-cooled liquid droplets, which typically occurs at lower altitudes.

There have been more than 240 icing-related incidents in commercial aviation since the 1990s, of which 62 resulted in power-loss likely due to ice particle icing, according to a study authored by Jeanne G. Mason, J. Walter Strapp and Phillip Chow. This condition is difficult for pilots to identify because in many cases the ice is forming only inside the engine, without any visible icing on the wings.

Researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center are taking a closer look at the phenomenon, which is considered a significant threat to commercial airlines. NASA scientists are developing ways to identify the conditions that cause ice particle icing to better warn pilots about where this might occur.

Deep convective clouds create conditions conducive for a dangerous icing threat to commercial flights, one that can cause engine power loss. Researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center are trying to improve forecasts for this specific threat. These storm clouds were captured from the International Space Station over the East Coast of the United States in Sept., 2003. Image courtesy of: NASA’s Johnson Space Center

“It’s something that hasn’t been explored much,” said Chris Yost, a NASA contractor and research scientist with Science Systems and Applications Inc. in Hampton, Va. Yost said his research is at a preliminary stage now, focused on pinpointing the types of clouds connected with ice particle icing. He will present his latest results at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting in San Francisco on Dec. 14.

“These are deep convection, thunderstorm-like clouds,” Yost said. “Thin, wispy cirrus stuff is not so much a problem.”

NASA research is aiming to improve weather forecasts that could steer pilots away from trouble. Building on tools developed to detect surface icing conditions, NASA scientists are using cloud observations from two satellites, CALIPSO and CloudSat.

CALIPSO and CloudSat fly only seconds apart on the same orbit. Together they provide never-before-seen 3-D perspectives of how clouds and aerosols form, evolve, and affect weather and climate. In preliminary research, CloudSat and CALIPSO have been used to build on previous methods of identifying the type of moisture particles that lead to ice particle icing problems. CALIPSO’s lidar is used to create a vertical profile of clouds to accurately measure cloud height while CloudSat provides the estimates of ice concentration in those clouds. Together the two instruments provide very detailed information about the vertical structure of clouds, and the ice particles within them.

Yost and other SSAI researchers have been working with Patrick Minnis, at NASA’s Langley Research Center, on incorporating CALIPSO and CloudSat data into forecast models with the goal of identifying potential ice particle icing conditions.

NASA’s research on ice particle icing began in 2005 with the integration of cloud data from the NOAA satellite GOES. This was followed on by a field experiment on NASA’s DC-8 in 2007 to compare ice particle measurements from GOES with actual aircraft measurements. While this data significantly increased researchers understanding of the icing process, the integration of CALIPSO and CloudSat data has vastly enhanced the ability to see what is within the clouds.

NASA’s Cloud-Aerosol Lidar Pathfinder Infrared Satellite (CALIPSO) flies in constellation with CloudSat to provide a unique vertical profile of cloud height and ice-water content. The satellites’ data products are helping scientists try to improve forecasts of dangerous icing conditions for commercial aircraft. Image credit: NASA.

Yost is currently comparing satellite records of weather conditions with the coordinates and time and date of specific airplane power-loss incidents in recent years. The research could illuminate more specifically what type of weather leads to ice particle icing and whether ice particle icing was a factor in these accidents. Future plans include flights with NASA’s DC-8 to take on-board measurements as a comparison point for CALIPSO and CloudSat observations.

Minnis described the group’s ongoing work as a first cut, but envisions it leading to better forecasting of potential ice particle icing conditions in the future.

“The ultimate goal of the project is to be integrated into existing forecast models and eventually into the NextGen (Next Generation Air Transportation System) cockpit system,” Minnis said.

Aviation safety organizations around the world are presently working with the ultimate goal of being able to accurately forecast inflight icing conditions in real-time for pilots. The integration of NASA satellite data into forecasting models is bringing them closer than to that goal, step by step.

Related Links:

> NASA Langley Cloud Radiation Group
> Advanced Satellite Aviation Weather Products (ASAP)
> NASA's Applied Sciences Program


Patrick Lynch and Rory Collins
NASA's Langley Research Center

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/icing-forecast.html

NASA's GOES Project Offers Real-Time Hurricane Alley Movies

People love to get the big picture of hurricane alleys, and thanks to the GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., they can now get real-time satellite animations of the eastern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

NASA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Project is offering real-time HDTV movies of the east- and west-coast "hurricane alley" regions. There are two types of movies for both the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. There are "Coastal" and "Global" movies. The two coastal movies (one for each ocean) show four satellite image frames per hour over the previous two days. The two global movies show two frames per hour over the most recent three days. All four movies are automatically updated every hour.

"The color frames are composed by overlaying the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) GOES cloud images on a true-color background previously derived from NASA's Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) imager," said GOES Project Scientist Dennis Chesters on the NASA GOES Project at Goddard. MODIS is an instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites to provide color imagery of the Earth's surface. "The GOES infrared images show the convective storms 24 hours a day. During daylight, the GOES visible images reveal the low clouds that provide detail and a sense of the low-level winds," Chesters said.

NASA GOES Project now offers real-time HDTV movies of the east- and west-coast "hurricane alley" regions. This is a short movie of GOES satellite imagery showing Hurricane Bill from August 2009. Credit: NASA GOES Project › Watch video (3.6 MB mp4)
› Watch video (14 MB mp4)

Hurricanes develop far from land in wide areas of the sub-tropical Atlantic and Pacific oceans, where only satellites can provide up-to-date weather data. NASA's GOES Project has created a method to animate satellite imagery on a true-color map over that large area to watch the early development of hurricanes.

"These new live animations provide panoramic views of each hurricane alley in HDTV wide-screen format," Chesters said. Viewers can see tropical cyclones in the Pacific developing off of the western Mexican or Central American coasts, potentially threatening Mexico or Hawaii. The Atlantic panorama revels the potential hurricanes that threaten the Caribbean islands and the USA's eastern and gulf coasts, and also shows the constant flow of convective storms across the eastern United States.

All of the animations can be found at the NASA GOES Project Web page: http://goes.gsfc.nasa.gov/. There are four links, each labeled "Hurricane Alley HDTV," next to the GOES-EAST and the GOES-WEST images of the USA and the globe. Each link delivers a hurricane alley movie from the area suggested by the image next to the link.

For example, to see what's happening in the always stormy Atlantic, click the link next to the GOES-EAST global image: http://goes.gsfc.nasa.gov/goescolor/goeseast/overview2/movie/alley_east_globe.mp4

Stretch your browser window wide to see the entire panorama.

The "global view" of the Atlantic Ocean is most interesting because it displays several weather regimes simultaneously. It shows the easterly winds in Hurricane Alley, daily thunderstorms over the Antilles, storms across the southeast U.S., the prevailing westerly winds and Atlantic storms at mid-latitudes.

There is a little date/time stamp in the lower left corner of each frame so viewers know which day they're viewing. The date/time is odometer-style: YYMMDDhhmm, an abbreviation for YEAR-MONTH-DAY-hour-minute, and is in Universal Time.

The movies are 1280x720p MPEG4 (H.264) in an Apple Quicktime file, and are about 20 Megabytes each.

Hurricane Alley animations can be found at the NASA GOES Project Web page.

Rob Gutro
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/features/hurricane_alley.html

GOES-P Satellite Preparing for Launch in March 2010

Just two months after the successful launch of the GOES-O spacecraft, now called GOES-14 in orbit, the NASA team removed the GOES-P spacecraft from storage and commenced its post storage testing. GOES-P is being prepared for an early March 2010 launch and if the launch schedule holds, it boasts an unprecedented two launches in approximately 8 months.

The GOES-P spacecraft completed its build late in 2006 (just after the launch of GOES-N) and since that time the spacecraft has been in storage at the Boeing Facility in El Segundo, California.

NASA has a commitment, to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), for the launch of the GOES-P spacecraft in April 2010. The combined NASA and contractor teams (Boeing, ITT and LM) are working hard to meet their commitment and are now preparing the GOES–P spacecraft for shipment to the launch base. The project has recently completed a major milestone in the completion of its instrument testing.

The GOES-P instrument team is pictured here in the Boeing facility with the GOES-P satellite after completion of the instrument testing. Credit: Boeing Corp.

During this testing, the NASA team demonstrated the instruments continue to function as expected and will meet the stringent mission requirements. The instruments include the Imager and Sounder, built by ITT, and the Solar X-Ray Imager built by Lockheed Martin.

With these activities completed the spacecraft will continue the testing of the spacecraft subsystems and mechanical activities. NASA is looking forward to completing these activities and the ensuing launch campaign.

Andre' Dress
GOES N-P Deputy Project Manager

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/goes_p.html