
The NOAA announced that a spare satellite had been activated while attempts are made to fix the failed one, but added there was currently “no estimate on its return to operations”. The organization’s three current Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) were built by Boeing and designed to last 10 years. The failed satellite, GOES-13, was launched in 2006. NOAA typically operates two GOES spacecraft over the country, overlooking the East and West coasts, plus one on-orbit spare. The satellites are fitted with technology enabling them to watch for clouds and developing storms. The first sign of trouble with GOES-13, the primary East coast satellite, emerged late last Wednesday when it failed to relay expected images, NOAA reports showed. If a second GOES should fail, NOAA would operate its remaining satellite to get a full view of the US every half-hour. The organization would also depend more on other information relayed by polar-orbiting weather satellites. –Independent UK ; http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/