Boeing [NYSE: BA] announced GOES-14 (formerly GOES-O), the second satellite in a series of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites built by Boeing for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has completed on-orbit testing and been accepted into service. NOAA will use GOES-14 to accurately predict storms and monitor weather conditions across approximately 60 percent of the planet, including the United States.


Boeing and NASA conducted approximately five months of on-orbit testing on GOES-14 from the NOAA Satellite Operations Control Center in Suitland, Maryland, after the satellite's June 27 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. GOES-14 successfully completed a series of postlaunch milestones, including launch and orbit-raising data reviews, a contingency operations readiness review, and testing and verification of the instruments and communications services. GOES-14 now joins GOES-13 (formerly GOES-N) as a backup satellite for the two-satellite GOES constellation. The two spacecraft are ready to become NOAA's primary operational satellites. NOAA's current plans call for GOES-13 to become the operational east satellite during spring 2010 and begin providing critical data for the next hurricane season.

On December 16, Boeing shipped the third satellite, GOES-P, from the company's satellite integration and test complex in El Segundo to Cape Canaveral, where it will undergo final preparations for launch early next year. GOES-P will be launched aboard a Delta IV rocket procured from United Launch Alliance through Boeing's commercial launch business, Boeing Launch Services. The launch is planned for February 25 from Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 37.