Lockheed Martin Team Delivers Second Lightning Tracker for NOAA Weather Satellite
January 18, 2016 | Lockheed MartinEstimated reading time: 1 minute
Lockheed Martin delivered the second Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) instrument that will provide earlier alerts of severe storms and contribute to more accurate tornado warnings. The sensor will fly on the second next-generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, known as GOES-S, for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The Lockheed Martin team successfully completed assembly, integration, test and delivery of the second GLM instrument only 13 months after the first delivery.
“We reduced the build and test time of this complex instrument by 40 percent compared to the first unit,” said Jeff Vanden Beukel, Lockheed Martin GLM program director. “Now that development is complete, we are able to reduce delivery time so the GOES program can serve our nation with more accurate weather information.”
A rapid increase of in-cloud lightning can precede severe weather on the ground. GLM tracks that activity and gives faster warning plus more precise location information versus current systems. It does this by tracking lightning flashes from geostationary orbit, with continuous coverage of the United States and most of the Western Hemisphere. The heart of the GLM instrument is a high-speed (500 frames per second), 1.8 megapixel focal plane, integrated with low-noise electronics and specialized optics to detect weak lightning signals, even against bright, sunlit cloud backgrounds. It was developed at Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto.
GOES satellites are a key element in NOAA’s National Weather Service operations, providing a continuous stream of weather imagery and sounding data used to support weather forecasting, severe-storm tracking and meteorological research. The GOES program is managed and operated by NOAA, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center manages GLM instrument development. The team is preparing GLM for integration on the GOES-S spacecraft at Lockheed Martin’s facility near Denver.
About Lockheed Martin
Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that–with the addition of Sikorsky–employs approximately 126,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.
Suggested Items
Intervala Hosts Employee Car and Motorcycle Show, Benefit Nonprofits
08/27/2024 | IntervalaIntervala hosted an employee car and motorcycle show, aptly named the Vala-Cruise and it was a roaring success! Employees had the chance to show off their prized wheels, and it was incredible to see the variety and passion on display.
KIC Honored with IPC Recognition for 25 Years of Membership and Contributions to Electronics Manufacturing Industry
06/24/2024 | KICKIC, a renowned pioneer in thermal process and temperature measurement solutions for electronics manufacturing, is proud to announce that it has been recognized by IPC for 25 years of membership and significant contributions to electronics manufacturing.
Boeing Starliner Spacecraft Completes Successful Crewed Docking with International Space Station
06/07/2024 | BoeingNASA astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams successfully docked Boeing's Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS), about 26 hours after launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
KIC’s Miles Moreau to Present Profiling Basics and Best Practices at SMTA Wisconsin Chapter PCBA Profile Workshop
01/25/2024 | KICKIC, a renowned pioneer in thermal process and temperature measurement solutions for electronics manufacturing, announces that Miles Moreau, General Manager, will be a featured speaker at the SMTA Wisconsin Chapter In-Person PCBA Profile Workshop.
The Drive Toward UHDI and Substrates
09/20/2023 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamPanasonic’s Darren Hitchcock spoke with the I-Connect007 Editorial Team on the complexities of moving toward ultra HDI manufacturing. As we learn in this conversation, the number of shifting constraints relative to traditional PCB fabrication is quite large and can sometimes conflict with each other.