Editing Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (section)

==Satellite designations==
Before being launched, GOES satellites are designated by letters (A, B, C, etc.). Once a GOES satellite is launched successfully, it is redesignated with a number (1, 2, 3, etc.). So, GOES-A to GOES-F became GOES-1 to GOES-6. Because [[GOES-G]] was a launch failure, it never received a number. GOES-H to GOES-R became GOES-7 to GOES-16 (skipping GOES-Q, which was not built).

Once operational, the different locations used by the satellites are given a name corresponding to the regions they cover. These are GOES-East and GOES-West, which watch the eastern and western halves of the U.S., respectively. GOES-East is occupied by GOES-16,<ref name="GOES16">{{Cite web | url=http://www.noaa.gov/media-release/noaa-s-newest-geostationary-satellite-will-be-positioned-as-goes-east-fall | title=NOAA's newest geostationary satellite will be positioned as GOES-East this fall | website=www.noaa.gov | date=25 May 2017 | access-date=24 June 2017 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170613000951/http://www.noaa.gov/media-release/noaa-s-newest-geostationary-satellite-will-be-positioned-as-goes-east-fall | archive-date=13 June 2017 }}</ref>  while GOES-West is occupied by GOES-17. The -East/-West designation is used more frequently than the satellite's number designation. GOES-IO ([[Indian Ocean]]), a new designation revealed in early May 2020, is currently occupied by GOES-13 (DOD-1).<ref>{{cite web |title=TPXS10 PGTW 040315 |url=https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/products/sh9620fix.txt |publisher=Joint Typhoon Warning Center |access-date=4 May 2020 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200504053459/https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/products/sh9620fix.txt |archive-date=4 May 2020 |date=4 May 2020}}</ref>

There was also a GOES-South position, which is meant to provide dedicated coverage of South America. Before the GOES-R series became operational, unless a satellite was dedicated to this continent, imagery of South America was updated every 3 hours instead of every 30 minutes.<ref name="goes-10">{{cite web | url=https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060417/ap_on_sc/south_america_weather_satellite | title=U.S. to Reposition Satellite Over Amazon | agency=Associated Press | access-date=17 April 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060423170705/http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060417/ap_on_sc/south_america_weather_satellite | archive-date=23 April 2006 | url-status=dead}}</ref> The GOES-South station was usually assigned to older satellites whose North American operations have been taken over by new satellites. For example, GOES-10 was moved from the GOES-West position to GOES-South after it was replaced in the -West station by GOES-11. When GOES-10 was decommissioned on 1 December 2009, GOES-South was taken over by GOES-12. Since the retirement of GOES-12 on 16 August 2013, the GOES-South station has been unoccupied. GOES-16 has since made the need for a dedicated GOES-South satellite obsolete; as of 2019, the satellite produces full disk images every 10 minutes.