The GOES-M satellite was launched aboard this Atlas rocket on July 23, 2001, from Cape Canaveral.
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Courtesy of NASA
U.S. Launches Their Most Advanced Satellite Today
News story originally written on July 23, 2001
The GOES-M satellite was launched early this morning. This new satellite will track two kinds of weather:
weather here on Earth like
thunderstorms,
hurricanes, and floods
and
space weather.
Space weather happens outside the Earth's atmosphere, but it can have a big effect on Earth. Space weather can endanger astronauts in space, fry satellites that carry your cable or radio stations, and fry power grids here on Earth. The GOES-M satellite is carrying the Solar X-ray Imager (SXI) instrument. This instrument is the most advanced instrument of its kind and it will help scientists forecast this space weather just like scientists forecast the Earth's weather.
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