BRUCE BUCKINGHAM: Our next question is from Freeman. He's in New York City, and his question is: How long does it take for the GOES satellite to make one Earth rotation, and how much of the planet does it monitor? ANDRE' DRESS: Okay, Freeman, that’s a good question. And the orbit rate has to do with how far away you are from the Earth. Okay, for the GOES satellite, we said it was geosynchronous, so that means it orbits the Earth once every 24 hours. And as you know, we have, one day lasts one 24-hour period. Okay, so if the satellite's orbiting the Earth at 24 hours and the Earth is rotating at 24 hours, then they are what we call synchronous. Okay, and so it can look, and it can look at one spot over the Earth, okay, the full disc of the Earth, and that doesn't change from the satellite's perspective. So that gives us a good advantage. So one, with one satellite, you can actually cover approximately 40 percent of the Earth's surface. BRUCE BUCKINGHAM: Thank you.
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NASA ID
ksc_081505_goesn_dress_7
Date Created
August 24, 2005
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KSC
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video
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NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration
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