missions

GOES-16

Compiled from public sources on 2026-06-14. Not independently verified by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

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GOES-16 (originally GOES-R) is a NOAA geostationary meteorological satellite, the first of the GOES-R Series, launched on 2016-11-19 into geostationary orbit.^[1]^[2] It served as the operational GOES East satellite from 2017-12-18 until 2025-04-07, when GOES-19 replaced it; GOES-16 is now held in on-orbit storage at 104.7 degrees West as a backup asset.^[1]^[2] The spacecraft carries six instruments: the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), a 16-channel visible and infrared imager for Earth surface and cloud observations over the Western Hemisphere; the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM), detecting lightning transients across the Americas; and solar and space-weather instruments including the Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI), the Extreme Ultraviolet and X-ray Irradiance Sensors (EXIS), the Space Environment In Situ Suite (SEISS), and a magnetometer (MAG).^[3]^[4] GOES-R Series data products include atmospheric motion vectors, sea surface temperature, fire detection, and mesoscale storm tracking, derived primarily from ABI and GLM.^[5]

Full specification

All fields

current status	operational
operator	National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
launch vehicle	ula-atlas-v
Launched	2016-11-19
orbit type	Geostationary orbit; on-orbit storage at 104.7 degrees west
revisit days	0.003472
tasking supported	false
current geographic priority	Backup for NOAA operational geostationary constellation between GOES East and GOES West
Last updated	2026-06-14
claim status	agency-sourced

Where this fits, supply chain

Compositional position

this ——— Advanced Baseline Imager payload

this ——— Geostationary Lightning Mapper payload

this ——— Solar Ultraviolet Imager payload

this ——— Extreme Ultraviolet and X-ray Irradiance Sensors payload

this ——— Space Environment In-Situ Suite payload

this ——— GOES-R Magnetometer payload

this ——— Atmospheric Wind Observation related-topic

this ——— Wildfire related-topic

Atmospheric motion vectors (AMV) → demonstrated Advanced Baseline Imager

Sea-surface temperature retrieval → demonstrated Advanced Baseline Imager

Thermal anomaly detection → demonstrated Advanced Baseline Imager

Satellite magnetometry → demonstrated GOES-R Magnetometer

Sources

[1]GOES-R Series operations overviewagency doc2026-06-14
[2]GOES instrument and subsystem performance statusagency doc2026-06-14
[3]GOES-R Series instruments overviewagency doc2026-06-14
[4]GOES-R Advanced Baseline Imageragency doc2026-06-14
[5]GOES-R Series data products overviewagency doc2026-06-14

Cite https://eo-atlas.org/missions/goes-16 Markdown twin → Field definitions → Suggest a correction →