Transcript

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hello and welcome back to the goes-t
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virtual social i'm jasmine hopkins with
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nasa communications and right now we are
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just hours away from launching the next
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state-of-the-art satellite from noaa the
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national oceanic and atmospheric
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administration today i'm joined by a
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couple of experts ready to talk to you
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about the mission first we have steve
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volz assistant administrator for noaa
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satellite and information services and
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we also have dr thomas zerbuchen
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associate administrator for nasa's
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science mission directorate so thank
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you both so much for being here with us
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today our first question is going to go
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to you steve
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we've been hearing about quite a bit
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about the goes tea in the last few days
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and what it will do so how does noah and
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nasa work together on goes-t
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so the nasa noaa partnership is really a
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partnership of equals who bring
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different skills and but complementary
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skills to the mix so the program itself
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is is really a badgeless environment
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where the team says there's a noaa
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program director and a nasa deputy
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program director but nasa noah brings i
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would say sort of the the mission
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mandate for the weather mission to the
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team to the partnership and the products
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and services background nasa brings the
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the extensive background in space
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science and space flight hardware and
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technology development and in program
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management and execution and together
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we're able to put together a really
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outstanding world-class team that we're
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working on a day-to-day basis with
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bringing the satellites to development
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and then to operations where noaa does
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the operations with nasa there as the
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backup
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and repairs and corrections if we have
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any issues with the satellite on orbit
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it's a great team yeah i was going to
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say it sounds like a fantastic
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partnership we have here our second
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question is going to go to you dr z
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what strengths do each of these agencies
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bring to the table so for me you know
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besides the fact that there are two
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agencies uh here i just really also want
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to point out that this is really team
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usa with all the contractors that also
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are working on this including the
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spacecraft which is is really critical
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so it's it's the strength that we're
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bringing to the table of course besides
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the
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amazing understanding of the operational
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community which is what noaa does is
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really the research community as well
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the data that are
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saving lives every day in weather
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forecasts of course are also data that
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are really the subject of research we're
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trying to understand how fires arise in
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the western part of the united states
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and what we could be doing ahead of it
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trying to really understand how the
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planet works in this new changed way
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which is changed by climate so so for us
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the adding of science and research is
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really one of the key elements besides
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the other pieces that uh steve already
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mentioned fantastic thank you so much dr
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z i like that you said team usa we're
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all in this together so our third
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question will be for both of you uh what
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do you hope for the future in terms of
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this inter-agency collaboration and
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steve we can start with you sure so just
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following up on what thomas just said
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about the the process understanding
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we're trying to understand the whole
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earth as a system and really it requires
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more than just a couple of weather
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satellites or a couple of research
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satellites requires the combination of
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research and understanding to understand
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those processes and the operational
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satellites to continue to make the
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measurements over sort of the lifetime
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of the phenomena we're trying to
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understand so after goes-t which good
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luck today when a good on the launch
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we've got another polar satellite coming
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up next fall which another nasa noaa
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collaboration but really we're already
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planning the generation to follow which
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is geoxo which our next generation goes
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satellites which are going to have not
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just weather but also ocean color
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observations atmospheric composition and
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really hyper spectral imagery of of the
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atmosphere and and i'll let thomas pick
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up on this one the other one is the the
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the space weather objectives that we
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have as a combined organization as we
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just as we understand the physics of the
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sun and how it's affecting our lives
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here on earth so we have portfolios of
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observations and really are looking
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forward to expanding the needed
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observations in space weather but over
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to you thomas if you want to for your
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perspective
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so we're a technological society right
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of course we feel wetter when it's
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raining on us we don't feel space
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weather but make no mistake it's part of
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our lives each and every day and
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especially as the sun is moving towards
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solar maximum
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you should be aware that the sun is
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waking up right now moving towards solar
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maximum in three to four years
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and during that time that kind of
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threats that come from space weather are
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increasing substantially more than half
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of the spacecraft that are in orbit
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right now and operating we're not in
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orbit at the last solar maximum and
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there's many of them are from commercial
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partners that are really doing this for
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the first time so uh both because of the
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changing planet and kind of the
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abundance of severe weather but also
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because of space weather the future of
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our collaboration is important and
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remains important as we go forward
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because
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that kind of warning and kind of
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supporting that community is really what
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we do and what we do best together
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right this is certainly a situation
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where we're launching from earth for
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earth so very exciting to get those
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answers from you uh so in terms of
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launch today how are you feeling
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absolutely excited this is great and the
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sky is clear the clouds are gone the
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wind has picked up but you know we're
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the weather satellite so we can deal
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with some weather we're really looking
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forward to the launch today go goes-t
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for sure uh go goes-t nothing else
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fantastic and you can keep up with this
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mission on social media using
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ready to go and we also invite you to
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tune in later to nasa tv at 4 pm for our
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pre-launch coverage thank you so much
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for joining us today and go goes-t