Topic: GOES-14/15/16/17 Fall 2020 Solar RFI predicted times are now available

Date/Time Issued: September 29, 2020 1522 UTC

Product(s) or Data Impacted: GOES-14/15/16/17 Imager Data plus Ancillary Services (GVAR, SAR, LRIT, EMWIN, DCS, GRB, etc.)

Date/Time of Initial Impact: October 3, 2020 1642 UTC

Date/Time of Expected End: October 17, 2020 2129 UTC

Length of Outage: See table in details.

Details/Specifics of Change: The potential for solar radio frequency interference (RFI) with a satellite downlink circuit will occur whenever the Sun passes into the beam of the ground station receiving antenna.

We received the following information from our Mission Operations Division concerning the potential for outages of the GOES data stream including GVAR (GOES Variable) Imager and Sounder, EMWIN (Emergency Managers Weather Information Network), SAR (Search and Rescue), Low Rate Information Transmission (LRIT), High Rate Information Transmission (HRIT), GOES Data Collection System (DCS), Sensor Data (SD), Telemetry and Command (T&C), Weather Facsimile (WEFAX), Data Collection Platform Report (DCPR), Multi-use data link (MDL), Raw Data Link (RDL), etc.

The Dongara Command and Data Acquisition Stations (CDAs) and Environmental Satellite Processing Center (ESPC) receiving antennas may experience periods of Solar RFI as predicted below. Solar RFI can cause loss of telemetry lock and command capability, as well as degradation or loss in the GVAR data.

Solar RFI predicted times for the Fall 2020:

SOLAR RFI PREDICTED TIMES FOR FALL 2020

SPACECRAFT                DATE                    TIME               STATION          OPERATIONAL IMPACT

GOES-14              5 OCT – 12 OCT   1855 - 1906Z    WALLOPS     T&C

        5 OCT – 12 OCT   1854 - 1905Z    SUITLAND

        5 OCT – 12 OCT   1852 - 1904Z    FAIRMONT

GOES-15              3 OCT – 10 OCT   2042 - 2053Z    WALLOPS     T&C

        3 OCT – 10 OCT   2041 - 2052Z    SUITLAND   

        3 OCT – 10 OCT   2040 - 2051Z    FAIRMONT    

   10 OCT – 17 OCT   2013 - 2024Z    FAIRBANK

GOES-16              4 OCT – 11 OCT   1645 - 1656Z    WALLOPS     RDL, GRB, T&C, HRIT, DCPC,

        4 OCT – 11 OCT   1644 - 1655Z    SUITLAND    SAR

        4 OCT – 11 OCT   1642 - 1653Z    FAIRMONT       

GOES-17              3 OCT – 10 OCT   2118 - 2129Z    WALLOPS     RDL, GRB, T&C, HRIT, DCPC,

        3 OCT – 10 OCT   2117 - 2128Z    SUITLAND    SAR

        3 OCT – 10 OCT   2116 - 2127Z    FAIRMONT   

Contact Information for Further Information: 

For information on the status of this work, please contact ESPC Operations at ESPCOperations@noaa.gov and 301-817-3880 and SPSD.Userservices@noaa.gov