NOAA’s GOES-16 weather satellite declared operational

An upgraded NOAA weather satellite has entered service after a year of checkouts to provide critical, rapidly-refreshed imagery to forecasters in time for next year’s severe storm and hurricane seasons in the United States and the Atlantic Ocean. NOAA announced Monday that the GOES-16 spacecraft began regular weather observations after ground controllers maneuvered the satellite to its new operating position in geostationary orbit nearly 22,300 miles (35,800 kilometers) over the equator at 75.2 degrees west longitude. More

(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 21)