Lockheed personnel travel to Florida
Matt Kettering, a Lockheed Martin assembly, test and launch operations manager, said his company constructed the GOES-U aluminum-and-graphite body frame that houses its scientific instruments, antennae and solar wing.
The defense contractor manufactured the satellite’s “bus” in Littleton, Colorado. The spacecraft was shipped to the Space Coast in January within the belly of a U.S. Air Force C-5 Super Galaxy transport.
Kettering said 40 to 45 Lockheed personnel traveled from Colorado with GOES-U. They remain in Brevard County five months later as the launch date approaches.
“Everybody is doing local condos or Airbnbs between Cocoa Beach, Cape Canaveral and Titusville. Any off-days, we’re hitting all the local spots and kayaking or paddle boarding or hanging out at the local beach, or hitting all the restaurants. It’s great,” Kettering said, standing near GOES-U.
Including instruments, Kettering said GOES-U weighed about 6,400 pounds before fueling. Now, it weighs about 10,900 pounds.
Lightning detector can spot wildfires
Will Ulrich is the warning coordination meteorologist at the NWS station at Melbourne Orlando International Airport. He labeled the GOES satellites “game-changers” that provide minuteby-minute data for weather forecasting in Brevard and the surrounding region.
“We’re actually sometimes able to detect wildfires and pass that information along to first responders and fire weather managers throughout EastCentral Florida to let them know that there’s a new ignition source. It might be from a thunderstorm: lightning. Or it could have been human-induced,” Ulrich said.
“There have been multiple times where we’ve actually seen a fire pop up, and we’ve called our partners with the St. Johns River Water Management District and South Florida Water Management District,” he said.
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Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1