science

GOES 10

GOES 10 is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand GOES 10 rather than just read about it. In short: GOES-10, known as GOES-K before becoming operational, was an American weather satellite, which formed part of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite system. It was launched in 1997, and after completing operations as part of the main GOES system, it was kept online as a backup spacecraft until December 2009, providing coverage of South America as GO…

Key takeaways

GOES 10 belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect GOES 10 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of GOES 10 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

GOES-10, known as GOES-K before becoming operational, was an American weather satellite, which formed part of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite system. It was launched in 1997, and after completing operations as part of the main GOES system, it was kept online as a backup spacecraft until December 2009, providing coverage of South America as GOES-SOUTH, and being used to assist with hurricane predictions for North America. It was retired and maneuvered to a graveyard orbit on 1 December 2009.

Launch

GOES-K was launched aboard an International Launch Services Atlas I rocket, flying from Launch Complex 36B at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch occurred at 05:49 GMT on 25 April. Its launch was the final flight of the Atlas I rocket, which was retired in favour of the modernised Atlas II. At launch, the satellite had a mass of 2,105 kilograms (4,641 lb), and an expected operational lifespan of five years. It was built by Space Systems/Loral, based on the LS-1300 satellite bus, and was the third of five GOES-I series satellites to be launched. Following launch, it was positioned in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 105° West for on-orbit testing.

Operations During on-orbit testing, the system used to rotate the solar array in order to track the Sun started to malfunction. Early in testing it briefly stopped working twice, and then seventeen days into testing, it stopped completely. Following two months of analysis, it was determined that it had only stopped working in one direction, so the satellite was rotated 180 degrees, and the array operated in reverse. Because of this fault, testing lasted longer than originally planned, with the satellite finally being powered down for storage as a backup in June 1998, a process that was originally scheduled for August of the previous year. Less than a month later, it was reactivated after the attitude control system on the GOES-9 satellite started to fail. During July, it was prepared for operational service, before assuming GOES-WEST operations at the end of the month. In August, it was moved to a longitude of 135° West, where it relieved GOES-9. GOES-10 transmitted weather data while it was still moving, which required users to track the satellite in order to continue receiving data. This was the first time that a GOES satellite which was still operational was replaced. GOES-10 was operated at 135° West until 27 June 2006, when it was replaced by GOES-11, as it was running low on fuel. It remained operational as a backup satellite until GOES-13 became operational, and was then moved to a new position at 60° West, from where it provided data on South America, and monitored the Main Development Region to help forecast hurricanes. In December 2007, it briefly took over GOES-EAST during an outage of GOES-12, although it remained at 60° West. This made it one of only two satellites to have been used as both GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST, the other being GOES-7. GOES-10 was retired on 1 December 2009 due to almost complete depletion of propellant. Remaining fuel was used to boost it into a graveyard orbit.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with GOES 10

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what GOES 10 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to GOES 10 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about GOES 10 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of GOES 10

In research: GOES 10 appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses GOES 10 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: GOES 10 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1997 in Florida, 2009 in spaceflight, April 1997 in the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for GOES 10 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study GOES 10 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what GOES 10 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain GOES 10 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is GOES 10 in simple terms?

Why does GOES 10 matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study GOES 10?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on GOES 10.