weather satellite

RIP GOES East: One of Our (Two) Weather Satellites is Dead

I’ve been holding off on this story since I heard it on the WGN (Chicago) News at noon, from the best TV weathercaster in America, Tom Skilling. I was waiting till somebody put up a link to a print story, but nobody has. So you-particularly those of you on the East Coast—can test this for yourself: try to pull up an image, a satellite image mind you, visible light wavelengths, of your area.

Bet you can’t. Because Skilling said that the GOES-East satellite (you’ll never guess what its partner in geosynchronous orbit over the Pacific is called) was supposed to execute a maneuver of some sort yesterday…and hasn’t been heard from since.  Read more