GOES 2

About This Satellite

GOES-2 launched on June 16, 1977. Its service history was not one uninterrupted interval: the programme chronology records decommissioning in 1993, reactivation in 1995, and deactivation in 2001. Those separate events explain why different historical references can give different end dates without necessarily describing the same service.

Reactivation does not prove that every payload returned

The programme chronology establishes a return to use, not a complete instrument-by-instrument recovery report. Do not interpret the 1995 reactivation as proof that the original weather-imaging service resumed unchanged. A satellite can retain useful functions after another function has ended.

Ask which service a date belongs to

For GOES-2, an end date should be attached to a named activity: imaging, a later use, or final spacecraft deactivation. That approach is more informative than presenting one unexplained lifetime figure. An orbital catalog and a weather-data archive are answering different questions about the same object.

Mission reference: NOAA/NASA GOES programme: GOES-2 service timeline. Editorial review: 2026-09-12.

A proposed polar backup is not an operational service record

The 1999 US Antarctic Program communications workshop discussed GOES-2 as a recommended backup for South Pole connectivity. That is evidence of planning, not sufficient evidence that the proposed arrangement became operational. It should not be confused with the separately documented GOES-3 communications service or used to advertise a current polar link.

Reference: US Antarctic Program: 1999 communications workshop recommendations.

Historical image availability needs a product-level check

The NCEI GOES 1-15 collection points to several archive and climate-data products. Their time spans and processing choices are not a substitute for a spacecraft service timeline. To study a particular GOES-2 weather event, first establish that the selected product actually includes that platform and observation date; the survival of the spacecraft alone cannot supply a missing image.

Reference: NOAA NCEI: historical GOES archive access.

Reading this orbital snapshot

Based on TLE epoch: 2026-09-05. Estimated altitude ranges from 35,987 km at perigee to 36,082 km at apogee, a difference of 95 km. The orbital period is about 1448.8 minutes. Eccentricity 0.00112 indicates a nearly circular path. In a two-body approximation, perigee speed is 1.00 times apogee speed. These are mean-element estimates, not instantaneous measurements. Distance per orbit uses an ellipse approximation.

Saved build snapshot. If a valid TLE is retrieved, this explanation and the orbit panel update together. Otherwise this dated snapshot is retained.

Ground track is not sensor coverage

An inclination of 6.24 degrees implies approximate geocentric ground-track limits of 6.2 degrees north and south. This is a prograde orbit, moving in the same general direction as Earth rotation. The plotted line marks the point beneath the object. It does not represent camera coverage, radio reception, or a guaranteed visible pass.

Is it fixed above one longitude?

The snapshot period is 1448.8 minutes. A sidereal day is about 1,436.07 minutes. Height alone does not establish a geostationary orbit: the period must match Earth rotation and the path must be circular and equatorial. This catalog uses a five-minute period tolerance for near-geosynchronous labels; near-geostationary additionally requires inclination at most 1 degree and eccentricity at most 0.01. These are browsing categories, not evidence of station-keeping or a fixed longitude.

Accuracy and missing information

The introductory record describes the build snapshot. The orbital snapshot explanation and orbit panel share any successfully retrieved TLE; check the displayed epoch. Reentered objects retain historical data only. Mission history is not rewritten by TLE updates. TLE/SGP4 positions are predictions and can change after maneuvers or updated observations. The 14-day stale-data cutoff is a display safeguard, not an accuracy guarantee. Local passes are geometric predictions, not a visibility forecast. No verified operator or mission status means unknown, not active. Do not use this catalog for collision avoidance or operational flight decisions.

Catalog sources: CelesTrak SATCAT: NORAD 10061 · GCAT: S10061 (source update 2026 Sep 4 2345:57). Supplementary metadata: SatNOGS DB, retrieved 2026-09-05T12:57:25.375Z. Page assembled 2026-09-15. GCAT phase codes describe trajectory phases, not mission health.

Learn more: TLE data · Perigee and apogee · Ground tracks · JOT (Jewawud Live Orbital Map)

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