In the afternoon of Tuesday, June 25, 2024, GOES-U launched from Cape Canaveral as the the final iteration of the GOES-R series of weather satellites.

After making it to geostationary orbit around Earth, it was given the designation of GOES-19. Once it is cleared for operational service, GOES-19 will become the new GOES-East satellite, replacing GOES-16.

GOES-19 is very similar to the other satellites in the GOES-R series, although it is carrying a new instrument called the Compact Coronagraph-1, which will help with sun monitoring and space weather forecasting.

On October 1st, 2024, the ABI instrument aboard GOES-19 was given the “beta” declaration and imagery was made available to the public.