Feb 10 1981
From The Space Library
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was undertaking the first mass shift of satellites at 22,300 miles altitude in space, moving three meteorological satellites to new areas to improve their product and to prevent possible collision of one of them in its present crowded location, the Department of Commerce (DOC) reported.
NOAA would move Goes 4 (the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite launched in September 1980) from 98°W to 135 °W as backup for failing Goes 3; NOAA would not move Goes 3 while it continued to function, but would put Goes 4 as near as possible without its interfering with communications.
On January 29, NOAA moved a third meteorological satellite, Goes 2, from 105°W to 107°W to reduce the danger of collision with other craft or space debris; this satellite served primarily to relay weatherfax charts to ground stations. NOAA had to operate two geostationary satellites at all times: "Goes Fast" for the eastern United States and Canada and for most of the Atlantic, and "Goes West" for the western United States and Canada, for Alaska, and for the Pacific westward to Hawaii.
On January 29, NOAA also boosted its 7-year old Sms 1 into a 22,600 mile high orbit, where it would remain indefinitely. After NASA's launch of a seventh geostationary satellite, planned for March, NOAA would move Sms 2 from its station at 75°W to a nearby location on standby. (NOAA Release 81-16)
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