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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Nasa have completed integration of all the instruments of its Geostationary Operational Satellite – R (GOES-R) satellite onto a spacecraft.

The GOES-R satellite is scheduled for launch in March 2016.

The instruments installed on the satellite include an advanced baseline imager (ABI), geostationary lightning mapper, space environment in-situ suite (SEISS), extreme ultraviolet and X-ray irradiance sensors (EXIS), solar ultraviolet imager (SUVI) and magnetometer.

The GOES-R is designed to provide images of weather patterns and severe storms every 30 seconds, which allows generating accurate and reliable weather forecasts and severe weather alerts.

"We are now focusing our efforts on the environmental testing phase to ensure the satellite is prepared to withstand the rigors of launch and operation in the extreme environment of space."

The satellite will offer hurricane track and intensity forecasts, increased severe weather warning lead time, improved solar flare warnings for communications and navigation disruptions, and data for long-term climate variability studies, among others.

NOAA GOES-R system program director Greg Mandt said: "We are now focusing our efforts on the environmental testing phase, the next step for the GOES-R spacecraft, to ensure the satellite is prepared to withstand the rigors of launch and operation in the extreme environment of space."

The GOES-R series is claimed to offer better imagery and more atmospheric observations than the existing ones.

Development of the GOES-S satellite and spacecraft is underway. Work on the ABI and EXIS instruments is complete.

The GOES-S’s SEISS and SUVI instruments are planned to be completed this year.

The GOES-R Series programme is managed by NOAA through NOAA-Nasa programme office at Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Image: The GOES-R advanced baseline imager is installed onto the GOES-R spacecraft at Lockheed Martin in Littleton, Colorado. Photo: courtesy of Lockheed Martin.