Geostationary Weather Satellites: Progress Made, but Weaknesses in Scheduling, Contingency Planning, and Communicating with Users Need to Be Addressed

摘要

The GOES-R program is well on its way toward developing the first satellite in the series, but it continues to face risks that could delay the first satellite's launch. Among these risks are issues we have previously raised on how the program manages reserve funds and implements sound scheduling practices. Specifically, the agency does not provide important details on its contingency reserve funds to senior executives, including the reserves allocated for each of the four satellites or key assumptions made in calculating reserves. Without this information, program officials could misinterpret the size of the remaining reserves and make poor decisions regarding the program's future funding. The agency has improved selected scheduling practices, but others remain weak-in part, according to agency officials, due to the dynamic nature of scheduling a program as complex as the GOES-R satellite program. As the agency closes in on its expected launch date, technical issues in developing the space and ground segments and scheduling problems could make it more difficult to launch on schedule, and program officials now acknowledge that the launch date may be delayed by 6 months. Any delay in the anticipated launch date would expand a potential one-year gap in the availability of an on-orbit backup GOES satellite, and raise the risk of a gap in geostationary satellite data should one of the two operational satellites experience a problem.