Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles
Appendix 3: Space Vehicles
EWS-G
 
Copyright © 2024 Andreas Parsch

Boeing EWS-G

Beginning in the mid-1970s, the civilian NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) began to operate a number of geosynchronous meteorological satellites under the GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites) label. The 4th block of GOES satellites, GOES-13 to -15, was built by Boeing as prime contractor, and launched between 2006 and 2010. The satellites use multi-spectral instruments to monitor the Earth's surface, oceans and cloud patterns in visible and infrared wavelengths. They also have sensors to monitor "space weather", i.e. solar flares, X-rays and particle emissions. The GOES satellites also have a communication suite to collect and distribute data from all sorts of ground-based meteorological, geological and oceanographic sensor systems.

GOES-13 was retired to reserve status in 2018, when it was replaced by GOES-15, the first in a new block of further improved satellites. In 2019, the U.S. Air Force had indentified a short-term need for an interim weather monitoring satellite, and acquired GOES-13 from the NOAA. The satellite was put back in service, and operated by the USAF (and later the U.S. Space Force) under the label EWS-G1 (EO/IR Weather System – Geostationary).

Image: Boeing
EWS-G


GOES-15, having been put in reserve by the NOAA in 2020, was acquired by the USSF in September 2023 as EWS-G2. From November 2023 on, it replaced EWS-G1, which had been deactivated in October that year.

Name Intl. Designation Launch Notes
EWS-G12006-018A24-May-2006Originally launched as GOES-13
EWS-G22010-008A04-Mar-2010Originally launched as GOES-15

Launch dates of the EWS-G series

Designation Note: The official MDS list has an entry for the MDS W-2A. This is not a valid designation (there is no "W" primary mission or vehicle type), and must therefore be a typo for a (presumably) similar designation. The entry's data unambiguously refers to the EWS-G1 satellite, and therefore, the real prefix of the MDS is definitely "WS" (Weather Monitoring Satellite) instead of "W". So the designation of EWS-G1 could be WS-2A. The original WS-2 designation has long been cancelled and removed from the list, so that it could be re-used without conflict. On the other hand, the slots 18, 20, and 22 in the S-for-Satellite series are not yet tied to any publicly known designation, and so it's equally possible that not only the letter "S", but also one digit was inadvertently dropped when entering the MDS into the database. A designation of WS-20A or WS-22A would be entirely reasonable for EWS-G1.

Main Sources

[1] Wikipedia: GOES 13, GOES 15
[2] Gunter Krebs: GOES N, O, P, Q
[3] USSF: EO/IR Weather System – Geostationary


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Last Updated: 31 July 2024