The form of the destroyer has been chosen...
Posted on 10/01/2016 11:16:36 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Daily weather forecasts in the U.S. wouldn't be nearly as accurate as they are without the three geostationary weather satellites that are parked 22,000 miles above Earth. Next month these predictions will get even better: the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA plan to launch the first of four satellites that should deliver what the agencies call “game-changing” capabilities for predicting both ordinary weather and dangerous storms such as hurricanes. These next-generation spacecraft are needed to replace the existing weather satellites, one of which reaches the end of its operational lifetime this year.
The new Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R (GOES-R) will have the ability to scan for signs of rain, snow and lightning in the clouds above the entire continental U.S. every five minutes and to take smaller, focused images of problem areas every 30 seconds. By comparison, the older versions of GOES take images of the continental U.S. every 30 minutes and cannot simultaneously capture focused images. “The ability to observe regions every 30 seconds will allow forecasters to see what is happening in near real time and provide information not captured in current satellite imagery, such as the formation and evolution of rapidly developing severe weather,” says Greg Mandt, system program manager for GOES-R at NOAA. “This will enable more advanced warnings and effective evacuations.”
Satellite imagery contributes heavily to the National Weather Service maps that show and predict the movement of storm clouds. GOES-R would collect three times more data, provide four times better image resolution and enable more than five times faster coverage in comparison with the older satellites.
The updated satellite will also feature an instrument that represents the first of its kind in orbit: a lightning mapper. This high-speed, near-infrared camera will detect lightning flashes over North and South America as well as the surrounding oceans, enabling forecasters to issue earlier warnings for severe storms. There are also onboard instruments to watch the sun and detect dangerous solar storms that can hurl charged electromagnetic particles at Earth. Better space weather forecasting could provide notifications of potential disruptions to power grids and satellite fleets.
Much is riding on the planned November 4 launch of the first GOES-R satellite. The initial launch, which was slated for last October, has already been delayed twice because of budget issues and launch schedule problems. But more delays could mean NOAA may not have a backup weather satellite ready in the event that an operational satellite malfunctions. Any potential gaps in weather coverage could prove costly. In 2015 alone there were 10 weather or climate disasters—each costing the U.S. more than $1 billion in damage. “Investing in this satellite system is an investment in our safety,” Mandt says.
Now THIS is the type of endeavor the founders had in mind when using the phrase “provide for the general welfare”.
/thread
GMTA - didn't have a darn thing to do with the current "general welfare" where you tax one to give it to another.
How will they predict the weather, if every single thing that happens every day is unprecedented?
This is only after NPOESS was canceled after spending billions.
The ONLY reason the military created DMSP in secret was to get past the mess called NASA. The DMSP program created a working weather spacecraft series for cheap. Once NASA found out in 1974 and got involved, DMSP went from a small working satellite program to a massive 4 ton monster that kept going over budget and late beyond late. By the end of Carter’s years we had but one fully working satellite.
Even after the 2010 cancellation of NPOESS, NASA created just as bad a program and the USAF cancelled their efforts in it.
The phrase is “promote the general welfare”.
Promoting is simply providing a good climate for the general welfare. The thinking was not to “provide” anything. You are right though in that this is the kind of thing that promotes the general welfare. AS we know, giving welfare benefits to slackers has nothing whatsoever to do with “promoting the general welfare”.
More stuff coming from China???????????
Because the weather reporting is not about predicting and reporting weather. It's about drumming up fear, panic and hysteria to generate ratings using a healthy dose of teasers and clickbait.
Get Government out of the weather business. Government is a FAILURE at weather.
NOAA & NASA are FAILURES!
A private weather system would by now have Instant Go No Go on all traveling vehicles. Govt steps in with wordy, garbage, blah blah. Squandered, wasted trash.
Your General Welfare Big Govt has banned Reliable, Instant weather prediction, because of their monopoly. They repaced the good system with trash, govt jobs, wordy undifferentiated garbage weather reports.
When will you people learn?? How often must I remind you??
Your Govt builds trash! But you must go where to find it.
When the daily predictions turn into accurate yearly predictions so that farmers, ranchers and yes builders/contractors can forecast and plan their work reliably eliminating weather related loses then we have something to cheer about. I don't think we have deep enough pockets for that, IMO.
...with updated facial recognition cameras.
(1) "...five times faster coverage" makes no sense.
92) I worked on both the GOES and DMSP systems. The NASA/NOAA governmental bureaucracy knew no bounds, compared to the AF.
I think the writer was referring to:
The new Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R (GOES-R) will have the ability to scan for signs of rain, snow and lightning in the clouds above the entire continental U.S. every five minutes and to take smaller, focused images of problem areas every 30 seconds. By comparison, the older versions of GOES take images of the continental U.S. every 30 minutes and cannot simultaneously capture focused images.
But, he did the math wrong: 30/5 = 6.
Good catch ... we should all be very afraid
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