GFO Mission Overview
The GEOSAT Follow-On (GFO) program is the Navy's initiative to develop an operational series of radar altimeter satellites to maintain continuous ocean observation from the GEOSAT Exact Repeat Orbit. GFO is the follow-on to the highly successful GEOSAT-A and was launched in February 1998. On 29 November 2000 the Navy accepted the satellite as operational.
The Navy GEOSAT Mission
The 5-year GEOSAT mission and its extensive data validation program demonstrated the ability of the radar altimeter to measure the dynamic topography of the Western Boundary currents and their associated rings and eddies, to provide sea surface height data for assimilation into numerical models, and to map the progression of El Nino in the equatorial Pacific. Descriptions of the GEOSAT system characteristics were collected in two special issues of the Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest (Ref. 1). Extensive references and collections of ocean science results were presented in special issues of the Journal of Geophysical Research devoted to GEOSAT (Ref. 2).
References:
- Vol. 8, No. 2, April-June 1987; Vol. 10, No. 4, October-December 1989.
- Vol. 95, No. C3, March 15, 1990; Vol. 95, No. C10, October 15, 1990.
Program Management
The METOC Systems Office of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command has
overall responsibility for executing the procurement and operations of the
Navy's environmental sensor satellite.
Why GFO , GFO Satellite and Mission Design,