The USA put the world's most powerful weather satellite into space. Scientists say it will greatly change how we predict the weather and look at weather events. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said its $1 billion satellite, called GOES-R, will take weather photographs five times faster than other satellites, with four times higher image quality. The NOAA said: "Without a doubt, GOES-R will revolutionize weather forecasting." A weather forecaster said the difference in the quality of the satellite's images is like the difference between black and white TVs and HD TVs.
The new satellite will give us powerful, real-time images. These will make the world safer. Airline pilots will get better data to stay away from turbulence. The satellite will zoom in on severe weather events to get much more detailed pictures. This will help emergency services to warn people more quickly and reduce the loss of human life and property. People will have better information about hurricanes, flooding, ash clouds, wildfires, and more. The NOAA said: "It will give the weather as it's looking now rather than the weather that happened 15 to 30 minutes ago."