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NASA's high-tech GOES-P weather satellite lifts off

Updated on: 05 March,2010 11:22 AM IST |
AFP |

NASA has launched the latest in its family of high-tech meteorological satellites, adding to a constellation of spacecraft that watch storm development and weather conditions on Earth

NASA has launched the latest in its family of high-tech meteorological satellites, adding to a constellation of spacecraft that watch storm development and weather conditions on Earth
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The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-P (GOES-P) lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 2357 GMT yesterday on a Delta IV rocket which will carry the weather-watching satellite to its orbit around 35,406 kilometres above the Earth's surface.

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"GOES-P is on its way into orbit to begin a 10-year mission to keep a watchful eye on our world," NASA said yesterday on the satellite's launch blog, noting that all systems were performing "exactly as expected."
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Once it reaches its orbit, GOES-P will collect and send back to Earth data that will be used by scientists to monitor weather, make forecasts and issue warnings about meteorological incidents.
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The satellite will also detect ocean and land temperatures, monitor space weather, relay communications and provide search-and-rescue support. GOES-P is the latest in a long line of GOES satellites, the first of which was launched in 1975. The satellite will drop its letter suffix for a number, becoming GOES-15 once it is in space.

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