NOAA Temporarily Replaces Broken GOES-13 Satellite
By Jeffrey Hill | October 1, 2012
[Satellite TODAY 10-01-12] The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration temporarily substituted the non-functional (NOAA) GOES-13 weather satellite with the backup GOES-14 satellite as engineers work to fix the satellite’s issues, NOAA announced Oct. 1.
GOES-13 has waited in a fixed orbit over the eastern United States since the satellite went out of service on Sept. 23. NOAA’s U.S. West Coast satellite GOES-15 was unable to cover the Atlantic Ocean and the East Coast, so NOAA called GOES-14 into operation as the on-orbit spare to provide better coverage.
"GOES-13 is still transmitting data. GOES-14 data is being relayed via GOES-13 so that users do not have to repoint antennae. Meanwhile, engineers are working to repair the problems with the GOES-13 imager and sounder data,” NOAA said in an official statement.