NASA's GOLD powers on for the first time

NASA's Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk, or GOLD, mission powered on the GOLD instrument for the first time after launch on Jan. 28, 7:23 p.m. EST.

The systems engineers successfully established communication with the GOLD instrument and its detector doors opened when commanded. After their tests, the engineers powered off the instrument the same day, at 7:40 p.m. EST. The instrument will remain powered off until its host satellite, SES-14, reaches geostationary orbit and GOLD operations commence later this year.

GOLD will investigate the dynamic intermingling of space and Earth's uppermost atmosphere and seek to understand what drives change in this critical region. Resulting data will improve forecasting models of the space weather events that can impact life on Earth, as well as satellites and astronauts in space.

earlier report
Contact Successfully Established With SES-14 Satellite Hosting NASA's GOLD Mission
NASA's Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk, or GOLD mission launched at 5:20 p.m. EST, Thursday, Jan. 25, as a commercially hosted payload on the SES-14 satellite. The satellite was launched on an Ariane-5 rocket from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana.

Following an Ariane-5 launch anomaly, SES has successfully established connection with the SES-14 satellite.

GOLD will be at the forefront of exploring and understanding near-Earth space, which is home to astronauts, radio signals used to guide airplanes and ships, and satellites that provide our communications and GPS systems. The more we understand about this region, the more we can protect our assets in space.

GOLD will explore a little understood area close to home, but historically hard to observe: the lowest reaches of space, a dynamic area in Earth's upper atmosphere that responds both to space weather above, and the lower atmosphere below.

GOLD will collect observations with a 30-minute cadence, much higher than any mission that has come before it. This enables GOLD to be the first mission to study the day-to-day weather of the upper atmosphere - the overlapping thermosphere and the ionosphere - rather than its long-term climate.

Statement from SES: Guiana Space Centre, Kourou, 26 January 2018 - Following the anomaly that occurred during the launch on an Ariane 5 rocket last night, SES announces that it has successfully established a telemetry and telecommand connection to its SES-14 spacecraft and is setting up a new orbit raising plan now. SES-14 would thus reach the geostationary orbit only four weeks later than originally planned. SES confirms that the spacecraft is in good health, all subsystems on board are nominal, and the satellite is expected to meet the designed life time.

SES-14 will be positioned at 47.5 degrees West to serve Latin America, the Caribbean, North America and the North Atlantic region with C- and Ku-band wide beam coverage and Ku-band high throughput spot beam coverage.

Statement From NASA SES has informed NASA there is minimal impact on the SES-14 satellite carrying the agency's GOLD instrument after a launch anomaly on Jan. 25, 2018. The satellite will reach geostationary orbit four weeks later than originally planned. As the spacecraft is in good health, we expect no effect on the quality of observations and data. Originally, science operations were expected to start in mid-October. Our partners are working to maintain that timeline as closely as possible. We will provide updates as they become available.

China launches remote sensing satellites
Xichang, China (XNA) Jan 29, 2018
China launched a series of Yaogan-30 remote sensing satellites at 1:39 p.m.(Beijing Time) Thursday on a Long March-2C carrier rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province. A micro-nano 1A satellite was also sent into space along with the Yaogan-30 satellites. The satellites have successfully entered their preset orbit. They will conduct elec ... read more

Related Links
Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk - GOLD
Earth Observation News - Suppiliers, Technology and Application

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