Reportedly, a retired geostationary weather satellite of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) is being assigned to the U.S. Air Force to mend a gap in the service’s foretelling requirements. John Leslie—Spokesman from NOAA—stated that the GOES-13 satellite, which was disabled by NOAA in 2018, is being handed over to the Air Force to function at a new orbital site. The agency did not disclose the new location. Leslie said to SpaceNews, “Consistent with a MoA (memorandum of agreement) amid the NOAA and U.S. Air Force regarding space-based environmental regulating, the NOAA is shifting the disabled GOES-13 satellite—which earlier operated for almost 10 Years in the GOES-East point—to the U.S. Air Force on the agency’s appeal.”
In the last couple of weeks, satellite observers—especially amateur trackers—have spotted that the GOES-13 satellite had been shifting west. Leslie asserted that with the two latest GOES satellites—GOES-17 and GOES-16—during the functioning at the GOES-West and GOES-East orbital locations respectively, and by GOES-14 as a spare, “NOAA can present GOES-13 to the Air Force regarding their weather forecasting requirements.” In January 2017, during a meeting of the AMS (American Meteorological Society), Seattle, the Air Force openly articulated an interest in a spare GOES satellite.
Recently, the NOAA was in news as a group sued President Donald Trump’s government for information about “attempts to politicize NOAA.” In the recent time, a pro-democracy group litigated the Trump government to force the circulation of public documents they consider will clarify on the politicization of science at the NOAA. Democracy Forward registered the charge suit in the U.S. D.D.C (District Court for the District of Columbia) to oblige the government to release appealed public documents about the removal of Tim Gallaudet in February from his post as acting administrator of NOAA.