Operation

The Solar X-ray Imager (SXI) aboard the GOES 12

GOES 12

GOES 12, known as GOES-M before becoming operational is an American weather satellite, which is part of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite system. It was launched in 2001, and it is in standby orbit...

, GOES 13

GOES 13

GOES 13, known as GOES-N before becoming operational, is an American weather satellite which is part of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite system. It was launched in 2006...

, GOES 14

GOES 14

GOES 14, known as GOES-O prior to reaching its operational orbit, is an American weather satellite, which is part of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite...

, and GOES 15

GOES 15

GOES 15, previously known as GOES-P, is an American weather satellite, which will form part of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite system operated by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The spacecraft was constructed by Boeing, and is the last of three GOES...

 United States NOAA weather satellites is used for early detection of solar flares, coronal mass ejections(CME), and space phenomena that impact human spaceflight

Human spaceflight

Human spaceflight is spaceflight with humans on the spacecraft. When a spacecraft is manned, it can be piloted directly, as opposed to machine or robotic space probes and remotely-controlled satellites....

 and military and commercial satellite communications. The Solar X-ray Imager was the first x-ray telescope

X-ray telescope

An X-ray telescope is a telescope that is designed to observe remote objects in the X-ray spectrum. In order to get above the Earth's atmosphere, which is opaque to X-rays, X-ray telescopes must be mounted on high altitude rockets or artificial satellites.-Optical design:X-ray telescopes can use...

 to take a "full-disk" image of the Sun

Sun

The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...

, providing forecasters with the ability to detect solar storms and real-time solar forecasting by the Space Weather Prediction Center.

Imagery

The SXI aboard GOES 12

GOES 12

GOES 12, known as GOES-M before becoming operational is an American weather satellite, which is part of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite system. It was launched in 2001, and it is in standby orbit...

 weather satellite

Weather satellite

The weather satellite is a type of satellite that is primarily used to monitor the weather and climate of the Earth. Satellites can be either polar orbiting, seeing the same swath of the Earth every 12 hours, or geostationary, hovering over the same spot on Earth by orbiting over the equator while...

 is a Wolter Type I(Wolter telescope

Wolter telescope

A Wolter telescope is a telescope for X-rays using only grazing incidence optics. Visible light telescopes are built with lenses or parabolic mirrors at nearly normal incidence. Neither works well for X-rays. Lenses for visible light are made of a transparent material with an index of refraction...

) grazing incidence X-ray telescope

X-ray telescope

An X-ray telescope is a telescope that is designed to observe remote objects in the X-ray spectrum. In order to get above the Earth's atmosphere, which is opaque to X-rays, X-ray telescopes must be mounted on high altitude rockets or artificial satellites.-Optical design:X-ray telescopes can use...

 designed to record coronal x-ray

X-ray

X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...

 images in continuous sequence at 1-minute intervals. The Solar X-ray Imager obtains images at multiple wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum

Electromagnetic spectrum

The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. The "electromagnetic spectrum" of an object is the characteristic distribution of electromagnetic radiation emitted or absorbed by that particular object....

 from 6 to 60 angstrom units(Å). The imagery obtained by the XSI and XRS on GOES 12

GOES 12

GOES 12, known as GOES-M before becoming operational is an American weather satellite, which is part of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite system. It was launched in 2001, and it is in standby orbit...

 allowed forecasters to see space phenomena such as coronal holes

Coronal holes

Coronal holes are areas where the Sun's corona is darker, colder, and has lower-density plasma than average. These were found when X-ray telescopes in the Skylab mission were flown above the Earth's atmosphere to reveal the structure of the corona. Coronal holes are linked to unipolar...

, whose geomagnetic storms impact power grid systems on earth as well as radio communications and satellite communications systems.

Failure and Termination of the GOES 12 Instrument

The XSI and XRS sensors on GOES 12

GOES 12

GOES 12, known as GOES-M before becoming operational is an American weather satellite, which is part of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite system. It was launched in 2001, and it is in standby orbit...

 failed due to a problem with the electrical system which controls with north-south motion functionality of the instruments on April 12, 2007. The SXI and XRS currently have the ability to capture and record images. Due to limited field of view of the x-ray

X-ray

X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...

instrumentation, the XSI and XRS and been permanently deactivated.