GOES-15, the Boeing-built U.S. weather satellite launched in March aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket, has been turned over to NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) following five months of on-orbit acceptance testing, El Segundo, Calif.-based Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems announced in a Sept. 1 press release. GOES-15, like the GOES-14 satellite launched in 2009, will be placed in an on-orbit storage location at 105 degrees west longitude until it is needed.
GOES-15 is the last of three Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites that Boeing built under its GOES-N series contract. Lockheed Martin Space Systems unseated Boeing in 2008 to build at least two and as many as four GOES-R series satellites under a contract worth over $1 billion if all options are exercised.
NASA procures the GOES weather satellites on behalf of NOAA, which operates them.
