Topic: GOES-17 Operational Declaration and Transition Plan Status

Date/Time Issued: December 3, 2018 2056 UTC

Product(s) or Data Impacted: All GOES-17 ABI, GLM, SUVI, SEISS, MAG, and EXIS products

Date/Time of Initial Impact: October 24, 2018 1345 UTC

Date/Time of Expected End: January 2019 TBD UTC

Length of Event/Outage: See details below.

Details/Specifics of Change: This notification serves as an update to the operational status of GOES-17.

GOES-15 continues operating as GOES-West from its new location of 128 degrees west.

GOES-17 is operating from its location of 137.2 degrees west and will remain non-operational through December in order to finish additional testing. After testing concludes, the satellite will go into operations as the GOES-West satellite. We are aiming to complete this process in January 2019.

On November 20, 2018, an Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) error occurred which resulted in degraded infrared imagery from the instrument. This anomaly was not due to the ongoing loop heat pipe issue. After an engineering investigation, it was determined that a recent software update which controls the ABI cryocooler system (which pumps heat away from the instrument’s detectors to cool them to their required operating temperatures) experienced a memory error. This caused the cryocooler to shut down which led to a series of events through November 25, 2018. The cryocooler operation has been restored and there has been no additional degraded imagery as a result of this issue. ABI engineers are testing a permanent software fix that should conclude in January 2019. In the meantime, the previously scheduled ABI calibration activities have resumed. Upon successful confirmation of the fix, the operational declaration to GOES-West should occur soon after.

GOES-17 and GOES-15 will operate in tandem from their respective locations of 137.2 degrees west and 128 degrees west, until a date in May 2019 is specified for disabling the GOES-15 GVAR. Additional information will be communicated as needed.

Key points:

- January 2019: GOES-17 declared the Operational GOES-West satellite

- 1600 UTC GOES-15 LRIT broadcast disabled

- Simultaneous GOES-West (GOES-17) and GOES-15 operations continues

Contact Information for Further Information: Kathryn Mozer at Kathryn.Mozer@noaa.gov or SPSD User Services at SPSD.UserServices@noaa.gov.

Web Site(s) for applicable information:

See https://www.goes-r.gov/users/transitionToOperations17.html for additional information.

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