The next generation GOES-R geostationary satellite series first launch is planned for no earlier than late 2012. GOES-R will host a powerful multispectral imager and hyperspectral sensors, directed at acquiring significantly more information on the: atmosphere, land, ocean, and coastal areas. The time scales for the products and applications include nowcasting, forecasting, and climatic regimes. The great amount of information from the GOES-R series will offer a continuation of current products and services, and allow for improved or new capabilities. These products, based on validated requirements, will cover a wide range of phenomena. The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) and the Hyperspectral Environmental Suite (HES) on GOES-R will enable much improved monitoring compared to current capabilities. Advanced space and solar observing instruments including the Solar Imaging Suite (SIS) and the Space Environment In-Situ Suite (SEISS) will provide advanced solar and space measurements. There will be at least a factor of four increase in the number of products from the GOES-R system. NOAA's GOES-R series data distribution plans are consistent with the Earth Observation Summit and GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems).

In the GOES-R era, raw sensor data rates will reach approximately 120 Mbps, compared to 2.6 Mbps from each of today's GOES. NOAA is studying the use of X-Band spectrum for the raw sensor downlink to Wallops Island to accommodate the downlink of these large data volumes to the ground. Many options exist for the re-distribution of the calibrated/navigated data and products in the GOES-R era (GOES-R satellite, commercial satellite, dedicated landlines, hybrid broadcasts consisting of both satellite and landlines). Possible design options are currently under study by the three GOES-R Program Definition and Risk Reduction (PDRR) contractors. Fundamental to this is the continued use of satellite broadcasting. The GOES-R re-broadcast to direct readout users will continue in the L-band RF spectrum, but will be more efficiently used and will have an expanded bandwidth. Even so, the GOES-R series satellite communications capability in the L-band may be limited based on the available bandwidth and technology. Based upon the results being achieved in the NOAA-NESDIS data compression research program for the GOES-R series, the rebroadcast will likely be able to use compression (lossless and possibly near lossless). This use of compression enables a broadcast of more information in the same bandwidth. In this way NOAA will be able to significantly maximize the volume of GOES satellite science information in its re-broadcast. The two types of data that are currently being considered for GOES-R data distribution are the availability of a full set of this data (GFUL) and a GOES-R Rebroadcast (GRB) of a yet to be determined subset of the GFUL data. GFUL contains the full ABI, HES, and other instrument Level 1b data. The appropriate data format(s) for GOES-R sensor science data and GOES-R products are under study. At this time, the infrastructure impact on user sites for the GOES-R series data to acquire and process data has not been determined.

The archive and access functionality is currently performed by the Comprehensive Large Array and Stewardship System (CLASS). This system exists and contains data from GOES and other observing systems. CLASS will allow for retrospective distribution of GOES-R data and products.