Space weather satellite includes LLNL-developed optics

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) successfully launched the GOES-T space weather satellite on March 1, 2022. The satellite’s solar ultraviolet imager (SUVI)—an instrument used to record full-disk images at 6 extreme ultraviolet (EUV) wavelengths every few minutes and from a single telescope—contains multilayer optics developed by LLNL researchers. The data from SUVI will be used to better understand the effects of solar-produced EUV radiation on Earth and the near-Earth environments. Together, the satellite’s instrumentation will provide constant monitoring over the Western Hemisphere and help track fires, hurricanes, lightning, smoke plumes, coastal fog, landslides, atmospheric rivers, dust storms, and solar events such as flares and coronal mass ejections. The satellite’s launch into space was covered in a Washington Post article, where it was described as the “Latest and greatest weather satellite.” Once GOES-T is in orbit, it will be known as GOES-18, joining GOES-16 and 17—which also contain SUVI instruments with LLNL-developed optics.

Lead LLNL investigator Regina Soufli (PHYS) says, “The SUVI instrument is a unique capability, providing information on extreme solar activity that can affect electricity infrastructure, satellite communications, and astronaut safety. Data from SUVI are also used by solar physicists, to study and elucidate solar behavior.” The LLNL SUVI team also includes Jeff Robinson, Jay Ayers, Eberhard Spiller (consultant), and Sherry Baker (retired), as well as Eric Gullikson from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.