U.S. Space Force has accepted another Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and will make the spacecraft part of the Electro-optical Infrared Weather System-Geostationary mission.
The purpose of the EWS-G venture is to collect weather data like cloud imagery over the Indian Ocean, information that is critical to the planning of maritime military operations, Space Force said Friday.
The new satellite, dubbed EWS-G2, is the former GOES-15 satellite, whose transfer to Space Force was approved by Congress in June after its successor came online in January.
EWS-G2 will succeed EWS-G1, formerly the GOES-13 satellite, which NOAA put in storage mode in orbit after its successor became operational in 2017. NOAA transferred the spacecraft to the Space Force that same year via a memorandum of agreement.
EWS-G1 has been serving Space Force’s mission since 2020 and is projected to reach end of service life by February 2024. EWS-G2 is expected to continue the mission through the 2030s.