In 2023, there were an estimated total of 9,115 active satellites orbiting the Earth, representing a 35 percent increase compared to the previous year's active satellites.

Of the 7,560 active artificial satellites orbiting the Earth as of May 1, 2023, 5,184 belonged to the United States. This is by far the largest number of any single country, with their nearest competitor, China, accounting for 628. Types of satellitesArtificial satellites are human-made objects deliberately placed in orbit. Since the first satellite was launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, over 5,000 satellites launches have taken place for a variety of objectives. Earth observation satellites are used for both civilian and military purposes, playing a crucial role in activities such as monitoring the earth’s weather. Satellites also form an integral part of the world’s navigation and communications infrastructure. Space exploration also relies on the space telescopes, space stations and spacecraft included under this category. The space industry In the years between 2008 and 2020, the global satellite industry almost doubled to reach 271 billion U.S. dollars. Revenue is generated from building, launching and operating satellites. While private companies have had the capacity to build and operate satellites since the 1960s, it was not until the 1980s that private companies were able to launch satellites. Over the coming decades, the prevalence of private companies within the sector is expected to grow; for example, Elon Musk’s company SpaceX plans to increase its number of launches fourfold between 2020 and 2040.

The global small satellite market is projected to grow from USD 6,654.7 million in 2025 to USD 21,950.8 million by 2035, propel by advancements in satellite technology, expansion of communication networks and rising demand for earth observation. The market will experience adoption across different sectors as the military, communication, and scientific sectors turn to improve global connectivity and data-driven decision-making with a CAGR of 12.7%.

Semi-Annual Market Update

Country-wise Insights

Category-wise Insights

The data collected by Spire from its 100 satellites launched into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) has a diverse range of applications, from analysis of global trade patterns and commodity flows to aircraft routing to weather forecasting. The data also provides interesting research opportunities on topics as varied as ocean currents and GNSS-based planetary boundary layer height. The following products can be requested: GNSS Polarimetric Radio Occultation (STRATOS) Novel Polarimetric Radio Occultation (PRO) measurements collected by three Spire satellites are available over 15 May 2023 to 30 November 2023. PRO differ from regular RO (described below) in that the H and V polarizations of the signal are available, as opposed to only Right-Handed Circularly Polarized (RHCP) signals in regular RO. The differential phase shift between H and V correlates with the presence of hydrometeors (ice crystals, rain, snow, etc.). When combined, the H and V information provides the same information on atmospheric thermodynamic properties as RO: temperature, humidity, and pressure, based on the signal’s bending angle. Various levels of the products are provided. GNSS Reflectometry (STRATOS) GNSS Reflectometry (GNSS-R) is a technique to measure Earth’s surface properties using reflections of GNSS signals in the form of a bistatic radar. Spire collects two types of GNSS-R data: Near-Nadir incidence LHCP reflections collected by the Spire GNSS-R satellites, and Grazing-Angle GNSS-R (i.e., low elevation angle) RHCP reflections collected by the Spire GNSS-RO satellites. The Near-Nadir GNSS-R collects DDM (Delay Doppler Map) reflectivity measurements. These are used to compute ocean wind / wave conditions and soil moisture over land. The Grazing-Angle GNSS-R collects 50 Hz reflectivity and additionally carrier phase observations. These are used for altimetry and characterization of smooth surfaces (such as ice and inland water). Derived Level 1 and Level 2 products are available, as well as some special Level 0 raw intermediate frequency (IF) data. Historical grazing angle GNSS-R data are available from May 2019 to the present, while near-nadir GNSS-R data are available from December 2020 to the present. Name Temporal coverage Spatial coverage Description Data format and content Application Polarimetric Radio Occultation (PRO) measurements 15 May 2023 to 30 November 2023 Global PRO measurements observe the properties of GNSS signals as they pass through by Earth's atmosphere, similar to regular RO measurements. The polarization state of the signals is recorded separately for H and V polarizations to provide information on the anisotropy of hydrometeors along the propagation path leoOrb.sp3. This file contains the estimated position, velocity and receiver clock error of a given Spire satellite after processing of the POD observation file proObs. Level 0 - Raw open loop carrier phase measurements at 50 Hz sampling for both linear polarization components (horizontal and vertical) of the occulted GNSS signal. h(v)(c)atmPhs. Level 1B - Atmospheric excess phase delay computed for each individual linear polarization component (hatmPhs, vatmPhs) and for the combined (“H” + “V”) signal (catmPhs). Also contains values for signal-to-noise ratio, transmitter and receiver positions and open loop model information. polPhs. Level 1C - Combines the information from the hatmPhs and vatmPhs files while removing phase continuities due to phase wrapping and navigation bit modulation. patmPrf. Level 2 - Bending angle, dry refractivity, and dry temperature as a function of mean sea level altitude and impact parameter derived from the “combined” excess phase delay (catmPhs) PRO measurements add a sensitivity to ice and precipitation content alongside the traditional RO measurements of the atmospheric temperature, pressure, and water vapor. Near-Nadir GNSS Reflectometry (NN GNSS-R) measurements 25 January-2024 to 24 July 2024 Global Tracks of surface reflections as observed by the near-nadir pointing GNSS-R antennas, based on Delay Doppler Maps (DDMs). gbrRCS.nc. Level 1B - Along-track calibrated bistatic radar cross-sections measured by Spire conventional GNSS-R satellites. gbrNRCS.nc. Level 1B - Along-track calibrated bistatic and normalized radar cross-sections measured by Spire conventional GNSS-R satellites. gbrSSM.nc. Level 2 - Along-track SNR, reflectivity, and retrievals of soil moisture (and associated uncertainties) and probability of frozen ground. gbrOcn.nc. Level 2 - Along-track retrievals of mean square slope (MSS) of the sea surface, wind speed, sigma0, and associated uncertainties. NN GNSS-R measurements are used to measure ocean surface winds and characterize land surfaces for applications such as soil moisture, freeze/thaw monitoring, flooding detection, inland water body delineation, sea ice classification, etc. Grazing angle GNSS Reflectometry (GA GNSS-R) measurements 25 January 2024 to 24 July 2024 Global Tracks of surface reflections as observed by the limb-facing RO antennas, based on open-loop tracking outputs: 50 Hz collections of accumulated I/Q observations grzRfl.nc. Level 1B - Along-track SNR, reflectivity, phase delay (with respect to an open loop model) and low-level observables and bistatic radar geometries such as receiver, specular reflection, and the transmitter locations. grzIce.nc. Level 2 - Along-track water vs sea ice classification, along with sea ice type classification. grzAlt.nc. Level 2 - Along-track phase-delay, ionosphere-corrected altimetry, tropospheric delay, and ancillary models (mean sea surface, tides). GA GNSS-R measurements are used to 1) characterize land surfaces for applications such as sea ice classification, freeze/thaw monitoring, inland water body detection and delineation, etc., and 2) measure relative altimetry with dm-level precision for inland water bodies, river slopes, sea ice freeboard, etc., but also water vapor characterization from delay based on tropospheric delays. Additionally, the following products (better detailed in the ToA) can be requested but the acceptance is not guaranteed and shall be evaluated on a case-by-case basis: Other STRATOS measurements: profiles of the Earth’s atmosphere and ionosphere, from December 2018 ADS-B Data Stream: monthly subscription to global ADS-B satellite data, available from December 2018 AIS messages: AIS messages observed from Spire satellites (S-AIS) and terrestrial from partner sensor stations (T-AIS), monthly subscription available from June 2016 The products are available as part of the Spire provision with worldwide coverage. All details about the data provision, data access conditions and quota assignment procedure are described in the Terms of Applicability.

This is a component of the Eastern Pacific Ocean Hurricane Tracker Story Map. The hurricane track layers are provided by National Hurricane Center and the satellite imagery layers are provided by NESDIS using GOES data. About NHC The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is a component of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) located at Florida International University in Miami, Florida. The NHC mission is to save lives, mitigate property loss, and improve economic efficiency by issuing the best watches, warnings, forecasts, and analyses of hazardous tropical weather and by increasing understanding of these hazards. The NHC vision is to be America's calm, clear, and trusted voice in the eye of the storm and, with its partners, enable communities to be safe from tropical weather threats. About NESDIS National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) provides secure and timely access to global environmental data and information from satellites and other sources to promote and protect the Nation's security, environment, economy, and quality of life.GOES-R Series Satellites NOAA’s most sophisticated Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES), known as the GOES-R Series, provide advanced imagery and atmospheric measurements of Earth’s Western Hemisphere, real-time mapping of lightning activity, and improved monitoring of solar activity and space weather.GOES satellites orbit 22,236 miles above Earth’s equator, at speeds equal to the Earth's rotation. This allows them to maintain their positions over specific geographic regions so they can provide continuous coverage of that area over time.The first satellite in the series, GOES-R, now known as GOES-16, was launched in 2016 and is currently operational as NOAA’s GOES East satellite. GOES-S, now known as GOES-17, was launched in 2018 and now serves as an on-orbit backup. GOES-T, now GOES-18, launched in 2022 and now serves as NOAA’s operational GOES West satellite. GOES satellites are designated with a letter prior to launch. Once a GOES satellite has successfully reached geostationary orbit, it is renamed with a number. GOES-U, the final satellite in the series, is scheduled to launch in 2024.Together, GOES East and GOES West watch over more than half the globe — from the west coast of Africa to New Zealand and from near the Arctic Circle to the Antarctic Circle. The GOES-R Program is a collaborative effort between NOAA and NASA. NASA builds and launches the satellites for NOAA, which operates them and distributes their data to users worldwide.

This layer presents detectable thermal activity from MODIS satellites for the last 7 days. MODIS Global Fires is a product of NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data. EOSDIS integrates remote sensing and GIS technologies to deliver global MODIS hotspot/fire locations to natural resource managers and other stakeholders around the World.Consumption Best Practices:

As a service that is subject to very high usage, ensure peak performance and accessibility of your maps and apps by avoiding the use of non-cacheable relative Date/Time field filters. To accommodate filtering events by Date/Time, we suggest using the included "Age" fields that maintain the number of days or hours since a record was created or last modified, compared to the last service update. These queries fully support the ability to cache a response, allowing common query results to be efficiently provided to users in a high demand service environment.When ingesting this service in your applications, avoid using POST requests whenever possible. These requests can compromise performance and scalability during periods of high usage because they too are not cacheable.Source: NASA FIRMS - Active Fire Data - for WorldScale/Resolution: 1kmUpdate Frequency: 1/2 Hour (every 30 minutes) using the Aggregated Live Feed MethodologyArea Covered: WorldWhat can I do with this layer?The MODIS thermal activity layer can be used to visualize and assess wildfires worldwide. However, it should be noted that this dataset contains many “false positives” (e.g., oil/natural gas wells or volcanoes) since the satellite will detect any large thermal signal.Additional InformationMODIS stands for MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer. The MODIS instrument is on board NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra (EOS AM) and Aqua (EOS PM) satellites. The orbit of the Terra satellite goes from north to south across the equator in the morning and Aqua passes south to north over the equator in the afternoon resulting in global coverage every 1 to 2 days. The EOS satellites have a ±55 degree scanning pattern and orbit at 705 km with a 2,330 km swath width.It takes approximately 2 – 4 hours after satellite overpass for MODIS Rapid Response to process the data, and for the Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) to update the website. Occasionally, hardware errors can result in processing delays beyond the 2-4 hour range. Additional information on the MODIS system status can be found at MODIS Rapid Response.Attribute InformationLatitude and Longitude: The center point location of the 1km (approx.) pixel flagged as containing one or more fires/hotspots (fire size is not 1km, but variable). Stored by Point Geometry. See What does a hotspot/fire detection mean on the ground?Brightness: The brightness temperature measured (in Kelvin) using the MODIS channels 21/22 and channel 31.Scan and Track: The actual spatial resolution of the scanned pixel. Although the algorithm works at 1km resolution, the MODIS pixels get bigger toward the edge of the scan. See What does scan and track mean?Date and Time: Acquisition date of the hotspot/active fire pixel and time of satellite overpass in UTC (client presentation in local time). Stored by Acquisition Date.Acquisition Date: Derived Date/Time field combining Date and Time attributes.Satellite: Whether the detection was picked up by the Terra or Aqua satellite.Confidence: The detection confidence is a quality flag of the individual hotspot/active fire pixel.Version: Version refers to the processing collection and source of data. The number before the decimal refers to the collection (e.g. MODIS Collection 6). The number after the decimal indicates the source of Level 1B data; data processed in near-real time by MODIS Rapid Response will have the source code “CollectionNumber.0”. Data sourced from MODAPS (with a 2-month lag) and processed by FIRMS using the standard MOD14/MYD14 Thermal Anomalies algorithm will have a source code “CollectionNumber.x”. For example, data with the version listed as 5.0 is collection 5, processed by MRR, data with the version listed as 5.1 is collection 5 data processed by FIRMS using Level 1B data from MODAPS.Bright.T31: Channel 31 brightness temperature (in Kelvins) of the hotspot/active fire pixel.FRP: Fire Radiative Power. Depicts the pixel-integrated fire radiative power in MW (MegaWatts). FRP provides information on the measured radiant heat output of detected fires. The amount of radiant heat energy liberated per unit time (the Fire Radiative Power) is thought to be related to the rate at which fuel is being consumed (Wooster et. al. (2005)).DayNight: The standard processing algorithm uses the solar zenith angle (SZA) to threshold the day/night value; if the SZA exceeds 85 degrees it is assigned a night value. SZA values less than 85 degrees are assigned a day time value. For the NRT algorithm the day/night flag is assigned by ascending (day) vs descending (night) observation. It is expected that the NRT assignment of the day/night flag will be amended to be consistent with the standard processing.Hours Old: Derived field that provides age of record in hours between Acquisition date/time and latest update date/time. 0 = less than 1 hour ago, 1 = less than 2 hours ago, 2 = less than 3 hours ago, and so on.RevisionsJune 22, 2022: Added 'HOURS_OLD' field to enhance Filtering data. Added 'Last 7 days' Layer to extend data to match time range of VIIRS offering. Added Field level descriptions.This map is provided for informational purposes and is not monitored 24/7 for accuracy and currency.If you would like to be alerted to potential issues or simply see when this Service will update next, please visit our Live Feed Status Page!

This is a component of the Atlantic Ocean Hurricane Tracker Story Map. The hurricane track layers are provided by National Hurricane Center and the satellite imagery layers are provided by NESDIS using GOES data. About NHC The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is a component of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) located at Florida International University in Miami, Florida. The NHC mission is to save lives, mitigate property loss, and improve economic efficiency by issuing the best watches, warnings, forecasts, and analyses of hazardous tropical weather and by increasing understanding of these hazards. The NHC vision is to be America's calm, clear, and trusted voice in the eye of the storm and, with its partners, enable communities to be safe from tropical weather threats.About NESDIS National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) provides secure and timely access to global environmental data and information from satellites and other sources to promote and protect the Nation's security, environment, economy, and quality of life.GOES-R Series Satellites NOAA’s most sophisticated Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES), known as the GOES-R Series, provide advanced imagery and atmospheric measurements of Earth’s Western Hemisphere, real-time mapping of lightning activity, and improved monitoring of solar activity and space weather.GOES satellites orbit 22,236 miles above Earth’s equator, at speeds equal to the Earth's rotation. This allows them to maintain their positions over specific geographic regions so they can provide continuous coverage of that area over time.The first satellite in the series, GOES-R, now known as GOES-16, was launched in 2016 and is currently operational as NOAA’s GOES East satellite. GOES-S, now known as GOES-17, was launched in 2018 and now serves as an on-orbit backup. GOES-T, now GOES-18, launched in 2022 and now serves as NOAA’s operational GOES West satellite. GOES satellites are designated with a letter prior to launch. Once a GOES satellite has successfully reached geostationary orbit, it is renamed with a number. GOES-U, the final satellite in the series, is scheduled to launch in 2024.Together, GOES East and GOES West watch over more than half the globe — from the west coast of Africa to New Zealand and from near the Arctic Circle to the Antarctic Circle. The GOES-R Program is a collaborative effort between NOAA and NASA. NASA builds and launches the satellites for NOAA, which operates them and distributes their data to users worldwide.

NOAA's operational polar orbiting satellite TIROS-N/NOAA series HRPT data has been received at the Meteorological Satellite Center (MSC), Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). Since March 1987, HRPT data for previously orbited NOAA satellites of two NOAA series satellites have been available on cassette magnetic tapes. Since then, Japan Weather Association (JWA) has been distributing duplicate HRPT magnetic tapes generated from the cassette magnetic tapes for users on a non-real time basis.

MSC/JWA has been processing TOVS data and NOAA SST data. They have also been archiving these datasets.

Types of Data:

Monitored picture - 3 months retention period Digital data - cassette tapes, 2 years retention period Extracted data TOVS - magnetic tape, 10 years retention period Extracted data NOAA surface temperature data - magnetic tape, 10 years retention Contour charts NOAA sea surface temperature - charts, 5 years retention

Orbital products describe positions and velocities of satellites, be it the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) satellites or Low Earth Orbiter (LEO) satellites. These orbital products can be divided into the fastest available ones, the Near Realtime Orbits (NRT, Zitat), which are mostly available within 15 to 60 minutes delay, followed by Rapid Science Orbit (RSO, Zitat) products with a latency of two days and finally the Precise Science Orbit (PSO) which, with a latency of up to a few weeks or longer in the case of reprocessing campaigns, are the most delayed. The absolute positional accuracy increases from NRT to PSO. This dataset compiles the PSO products for various LEO missions and GNSS constellation in sp3 format. GNSS Constellation: - GPS LEO Satellites: - ENVISAT - Jason-1 - Jason-2 - Jason-3 - Sentinel-3A - Sentinel-3B - Sentinel-6A - TOPEX Each solution follows specific requirements and parametrizations which are named in the respective processing metric table. Within the scope of various international working groups and services, and mission involvements, such as Copernicus POD QWG, IDS, ILRS, TanDEM-X, GRACE(-FO), different PSO orbits are generated at GFZ. These orbits ensue to the best of one’s ability the specific requirements and are based either on one individual observation technique or on a combination of several. Adopted processing settings and, in the case of dynamic POD, parameterizations and modeling are listed in a respective processing metric table. The orbits are stored in the GFZ Information System and Data Center (ISDC) and to the extent deemed possible freely available for the scientific community world-wide

GCOM-C/SGLI L3 Map Land surface temperature (LST) (1-Month,1/24 deg) is obtained from the SGLI sensor onboard GCOM-C and produced by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). GCOM-C is Sun-synchronous sub-recurrent Orbit satellite launched on December 23, 2017, which mounts SGLI and conducts long-term global observations of geophysical variables related to the global climate system across 28 items including aerosol and vegetation over 4 areas of atmosphere, land, ocean, and cryosphere. The data will be used to contribute to higher accuracy of global warming prediction. The SGLI has swath of 1150 km in the visible band and 1400 km in the infrared band. Level 3 products are defined to be products derived from Level 1B and Level 2 products by statistically processing the Level 1B and Level 2 products in time and space domains. This dataset is 1 month map-projected statistics product. This dataset includes LST: Land surface temperature and QA_flag. The physical quantity unit is Kelvin. The stored statistics values are average (AVE) and quality flag (QA_flag). The statistical period is 1 month, also 1 day and 8 days statistics are available. The projection method is EQR. The generation unit is Global. The current version of the product is Version 3. The Version 2 is also available.

Map Information

This nowCOAST time-enabled map service provides maps depicting visible, infrared, and water vapor imagery composited from NOAA/NESDIS GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST. The horizontal resolutions of the IR, visible, and water vapor composite images are approximately 1km, 4km, and 4km, respectively.
The visible and IR imagery depict the location of clouds. The water vapor imagery indicates the amount of water vapor contained in the mid to upper levels of the troposphere. The darker grays indicate drier air while the brighter grays/whites indicates more saturated air. The GOES composite imagers are updated in the nowCOAST map service every 30 minutes. For more detailed information about the update schedule, see: http://new.nowcoast.noaa.gov/help/#section=updateschedule

Background Information

The GOES map layer displays visible (VIS) and infrared (IR4) cloud, and water vapor (WV) imagery from the NOAA/ National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) Geostationary Satellites (GOES-East and GOES-West). These satellites circle the Earth in a geosynchronous orbit (i.e. orbit the equatorial plane of the Earth at a speed matching the rotation of the Earth). This allows the satellites to hover continuously over one position on the surface. The geosynchronous plane is about 35,800 km (22,300 miles) above the Earth which is high enough to allow the satellites a full-disc view of the Earth. GOES-East is positioned at 75 deg W longitude and the equator. GOES-West is located at 135 deg W and the equator. The two satellites cover an area from 20 deg W to 165 deg E. The images are derived from data from GOES' Imagers. An imager is a multichannel instrument that senses radiant energy and reflected solar energy from the Earth's surface and atmosphere. The VIS, IR4, and WV images are obtained from GOES Imager Channels 1, 4, and 3, respectively. The GOES raster images are obtained from NESDIS servers in geo-referenced Tagged-Image File Format (geoTIFF).

Time Information

This map is time-enabled, meaning that each individual layer contains time-varying data and can be utilized by clients capable of making map requests that include a time component.

This particular service can be queried with or without the use of a time component. If the time parameter is specified in a request, the data or imagery most relevant to the provided time value, if any, will be returned. If the time parameter is not specified in a request, the latest data or imagery valid for the present system time will be returned to the client. If the time parameter is not specified and no data or imagery is available for the present time, no data will be returned.

In addition to ArcGIS Server REST access, time-enabled OGC WMS 1.3.0 access is also provided by this service.

Due to software limitations, the time extent of the service and map layers displayed below does not provide the most up-to-date start and end times of available data. Instead, users have three options for determining the latest time information about the service:

Issue a returnUpdates=true request for an individual layer or for
the service itself, which will return the current start and end times of
available data, in epoch time format (milliseconds since 00:00 January 1,
1970). To see an example, click on the "Return Updates" link at the bottom of
this page under "Supported Operations". Refer to the
ArcGIS REST API Map Service Documentation
for more information.


  Issue an Identify (ArcGIS REST) or GetFeatureInfo (WMS) request against
  the proper layer corresponding with the target dataset. For raster
  data, this would be the "Image Footprints with Time Attributes" layer
  in the same group as the target "Image" layer being displayed. For
  vector (point, line, or polygon) data, the target layer can be queried
  directly. In either case, the attributes returned for the matching
  raster(s) or vector feature(s) will include the following:


      validtime: Valid timestamp.


      starttime: Display start time.


      endtime: Display end time.


      reftime: Reference time (sometimes reffered to as
      issuance time, cycle time, or initialization time).


      projmins: Number of minutes from reference time to valid
      time.


      desigreftime: Designated reference time; used as a
      common reference time for all items when individual reference
      times do not match.


      desigprojmins: Number of minutes from designated
      reference time to valid time.




  Query the nowCOAST LayerInfo web service, which has been created to
  provide additional information about each data layer in a service,
  including a list of all available "time stops" (i.e. "valid times"),
  individual timestamps, or the valid time of a layer's latest available
  data (i.e. "Product Time"). For more information about the LayerInfo
  web service, including examples of various types of requests, refer to
  the nowCOAST help documentation at:
  http://new.nowcoast.noaa.gov/help/#section=layerinfo

References

NOAA, 2013: Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES). (Available at http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Operations/GOES/index.html) A Basic Introduction to Water Vapor Imagery. (Available at http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/misc/wv/wv_intro.html) CIMSS, 1996: Water Vapor Imagery Tutorial (Available at http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/misc/wv/)

This is a component of the Eastern Pacific Ocean Hurricane Tracker Story Map. The hurricane track layers are provided by National Hurricane Center and the satellite imagery layers are provided by NESDIS using GOES data. About NHC The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is a component of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) located at Florida International University in Miami, Florida. The NHC mission is to save lives, mitigate property loss, and improve economic efficiency by issuing the best watches, warnings, forecasts, and analyses of hazardous tropical weather and by increasing understanding of these hazards. The NHC vision is to be America's calm, clear, and trusted voice in the eye of the storm and, with its partners, enable communities to be safe from tropical weather threats. About NESDIS National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) provides secure and timely access to global environmental data and information from satellites and other sources to promote and protect the Nation's security, environment, economy, and quality of life.GOES-R Series Satellites NOAA’s most sophisticated Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES), known as the GOES-R Series, provide advanced imagery and atmospheric measurements of Earth’s Western Hemisphere, real-time mapping of lightning activity, and improved monitoring of solar activity and space weather.GOES satellites orbit 22,236 miles above Earth’s equator, at speeds equal to the Earth's rotation. This allows them to maintain their positions over specific geographic regions so they can provide continuous coverage of that area over time.The first satellite in the series, GOES-R, now known as GOES-16, was launched in 2016 and is currently operational as NOAA’s GOES East satellite. GOES-S, now known as GOES-17, was launched in 2018 and now serves as an on-orbit backup. GOES-T, now GOES-18, launched in 2022 and now serves as NOAA’s operational GOES West satellite. GOES satellites are designated with a letter prior to launch. Once a GOES satellite has successfully reached geostationary orbit, it is renamed with a number. GOES-U, the final satellite in the series, is scheduled to launch in 2024.Together, GOES East and GOES West watch over more than half the globe — from the west coast of Africa to New Zealand and from near the Arctic Circle to the Antarctic Circle. The GOES-R Program is a collaborative effort between NOAA and NASA. NASA builds and launches the satellites for NOAA, which operates them and distributes their data to users worldwide.