Flossi Keeping Track of Hurricane Milton

Several satellites transmit critical information about hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico to aid in tracking, forecasting, and analysis.

GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites) Series

   - GOES-East (GOES-16): Positioned to monitor the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the eastern U.S., GOES-16 provides continuous imagery and data. It captures high-resolution visible, infrared, and water vapour imagery, offering insights into hurricane development, wind patterns, and cloud structure.

   - Function: GOES satellites are geostationary, meaning they remain fixed over a specific area, making them ideal for continuously observing hurricanes moving across the Gulf.

Lockheed Martin is the GOES-R Series's prime contractor, including GOES-16 (GOES-East). Under a contract with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Lockheed Martin was responsible for designing, developing, and constructing the GOES-R Series satellites.

Lockheed Martin built the satellite platform for GOES-16 and its counterparts in the GOES-R Series (GOES-17, GOES-T, and GOES-U). 

The company developed the satellites at their Waterton Canyon facility in Colorado.

- Harris Corporation (now L3Harris Technologies): Harris provided the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), the key instrument on GOES-16 that provides high-resolution imagery of weather patterns, storms, and atmospheric conditions.

- United Launch Alliance (ULA): ULA was responsible for launching the GOES-16 satellite aboard an Atlas V rocket.

The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) was developed by L3Harris Technologies (formerly Harris Corporation) in partnership with NOAA and NASA as part of the GOES-R Series of satellites, including GOES-16. The ABI is the key instrument that provides high-resolution images of weather patterns, storms, and environmental conditions. 

 Invention and Development

The ABI was designed and built by Harris Corporation specifically to replace the earlier imagers on previous GOES satellites. The goal was to enhance the capabilities of satellite imagery for more detailed and timely weather forecasts. The ABI represented a significant technological leap, increasing the number of spectral bands from 5 to 16, allowing for more detailed observations across different wavelengths, including visible, infrared, and near-infrared.

 Key Capabilities of the ABI:

1. Higher Resolution: ABI provides images with a spatial resolution of up to 0.5 kilometres in the visible bands and 2 kilometres in the infrared bands, enabling meteorologists to see finer details of weather systems.

2. More Spectral Bands: The 16 spectral bands allow the ABI to monitor various atmospheric phenomena, including cloud formation, moisture content, ocean temperatures, and more.

3. Improved Coverage: The ABI can capture full-disk images of the Earth every 5-15 minutes and focus on smaller regions every 30 seconds, making it incredibly valuable for real-time weather monitoring, especially in the event of hurricanes and severe storms.

 How It’s Made:

The ABI is a highly sophisticated optical instrument made from mirrors, detectors, and filters. Its components include:

1. Telescope System: The ABI contains a reflective telescope system that collects and focuses incoming radiation (light) onto detectors.

2. Spectral Filters: The ABI uses various spectral filters to separate incoming light into its different spectral components (visible, infrared, etc.), allowing it to observe different atmospheric phenomena.

3. Detectors: The filtered light is detected by a series of sensitive detectors that convert the radiation into electronic signals. These detectors are specially designed to capture different wavelengths and provide data on temperature, moisture, and other variables.

4. Cooling System: The ABI also uses an advanced cryogenic cooling system to keep the detectors at optimal temperatures for accurate readings.

 Assembly and Testing:

L3Harris assembled the ABI in its facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It underwent rigorous testing to ensure that it could operate in the harsh environment of space, including tests for vibration, thermal stress, and radiation resistance.