The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s planned March 2016 launch of its Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R-Series satellite (GOES-R) is at risk because it is near capacity in the time it has available to complete critical integration and testing activities, according to a recent report.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in its recently-released 2015 High Risk List that NOAA has demonstrated leadership by revising and improving its geostationary satellite contingency plans, updating an assessment of the viability of the GOES-R program schedule and taking steps to ensure the launch date for the satellite remains on track. GAO warned that any delay in the anticipated launch date would extend the time that NOAA might need to operate without a backup satellite.
“Mitigating gaps in weather satellite data” was listed by GAO in its biennial High Risk List because weather satellite programs like the GOES-R series, GAO said, have troubled legacies of cost increases, missed milestones, technical problems and management challenges that have resulted in reduced functionality and slips to planned launch dates. In 2013, NOAA’s launch goal for the GOES-R satellite was 2015 (Defense Daily; Oct. 18, 2013). The first satellite of the GOES-R series is also called GOES-R.
A key NOAA official told a joint hearing of the House Science, Space and Technology (SST) environment and oversight subcommittees Thursday the program has made progress in development of both ground and flight segments. NOAA Assistant Administrator for National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service Stephen Volz said in his prepared remarks delivery and integration of all GOES-R instruments for the flight segment portion have been completed. Pre-environmental testing of the satellite and instruments is underway, he added.
Volz said development of other GOES-series satellites like GOES-S, GOES-T and GOES-U are well underway with the GOES-S flight set expected to be completed by this summer. Build-up and integration of GOES-S spacecraft elements have been started in Denver, he added.
The GOES-R series is the United States’ next generation of geostationary weather satellites and is a joint development and acquisition effort between NOAA and NASA to develop, deploy and operate the satellites. The program consists of four satellites, -R, -S, -T, and -U. Lockheed Martin [LMT] is the GOES-R prime contractor. Company spokesman Gary Napier said Thursday in an email Lockheed Martin is on schedule to deliver GOES-R for March 2016. The satellite is in final integration, has all six of its instruments installed, Napier said, and will soon move into environmental testing. Assembly of the second satellite, GOES-S, is well underway and on schedule, he added.
Volz said for the ground segment portion of the program, all core ground system equipment has been delivered to operational locations in Wallops, Va.; Fairmont, W.Va; and Suitland, Md.; with completion of verification testing on schedule for this spring. The program, he said, has also completed site acceptance testing for three of four antenna upgrades at NOAA’s satellite operations facility in Suitland, Md. GOES-R completed its first spacecraft-to-ground system end-to-end test, Volz said.
GOES-R remains on cost within its lifecycle cost of $10.8 billion, Volz said. NOAA hopes to launch GOES-S in the third quarter of fiscal year 2017, while aiming for a GOES-T launch in third quarter FY ’19 and GOES-U in first quarter FY ’25.
GAO said it maintains a high-risk program to focus attention on government operations that it identifies as high risk due to their greater vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement or the need for transformation to address economy, efficiency, or effectiveness challenges.