Update #1: The time for the initial drift impact has changed from 16:53 UTC to 14:00 UTC and the time of expected drift impact end has changed from 21:53 UTC to 23:30 UTC.

Topic: GOES-18 drift to 136.8 degrees West

Date/Time Issued: May 10, 2022 1247 UTC

Product(s) or Data Impacted: All GOES-18 products

Date/Time of Initial Impact: May 16, 2022 14:00 UTC

Date/Time of Expected End: June 6, 2022 23:30 UTC

Length of Event/Outage: 3 weeks

Details/Specifics of Change:

On May 16, 2022 at 16:53 UTC, GOES-18 will commence a three week drift from 89.5 degrees West to 136.8 degrees West. The destination is 0.4 degrees longitude from the operational GOES-West satellite (GOES-17) at 137.2 degrees West. Once arriving at 136.8 degrees West, GOES-18 will continue with its Post-Launch Test (PLT) checkout period. SEISS and the GMAG are the only two instruments left on to collect science data during the drift, while the other instruments will not collect science data.  Given the early stage of GOES-18 post-launch testing, SEISS and GMAG science data are unvalidated and therefore only available for cal/val purposes.  

Aside from brief test periods mentioned in other notifications, GOES-18 data will not be available to users until the operational interleave periods of August 1 to September 6, 2022 and October 15 to November 11, 2022. Intereleave details will be made available in a future notification closer to the events. 

Contact Information for Further Information: Joseph Fiore at joseph.fiore@noaa.gov 

Web Site(s) for applicable information:

See https://www.goes-r.gov/users/transitionToOperations18.html for additional information.