Topic: GOES-13 is America's new GOES-EAST satellite

[sam]

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite known as GOES-13 became the official GOES-EAST satellite on April 14, 2010. GOES-13 was moved from on-orbit storage and into active duty. It is perched 22,300 miles above the equator to spot potentially life-threatening weather, including tropical storm activity in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.

http://www.physorg.com/news190692679.html

[Rik]

How long do they put them up into storage, Sam?

[Clive]

It was launched in 2006 Rik.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GOES_13

[Rik]

It's a lot of money to have doing nothing, isn't it...

[Clive]

Maybe that's what they used to predict last year's barbecue summer?   

[Simon]

Isn't it supposed to be 40C this summer? 

[sam]

It's a lot of money to have doing nothing, isn't it...

well you launch when its cheap I guess / only so many launch windows etc.

[Rik]

Let's hope the volcanic ash doesn't reach it.