The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, US, recently launched a new weather satellite GOES-K to gear up for the busy Atlantic hurricane season. The National Weather Service (NWS) now relies on two geostationary operational environmental satellites for forecasting: GOES-8 for the east coast and GOES-9 for the west. But both satellites have motor prob lems. GOES-K will replace whichever one fails first. It is designed to last five years. "It is the first time that we can ensure continuity in our satellite weather operations in many years," said Susan Zevin, deputy director of operations for the NWS.
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