Real-time access to GOES-13 X-ray Images during the Post Launch Testing Period

It's a whole new bird. GOES-13, launched on May 24, 2006, contains a suite of newly designed instruments that includes the second generation Solar X-ray Imager (SXI). Anticipation was high regarding this SXI which was designed and built by the same Lockheed-Martin team that gave us the extremely successful Yohkoh Solar X-ray Telescope (SXT). SXI has not disappointed -- since the spectacular "first light" image was released on July 6, 2006 the Space Environment Center (SEC) has been generating an impressive stream of SXI images. Although SXI data are only available to Post Launch Test (PLT) participants at this time, the full scale Level-0 browse imagery is being delivered to NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) in real time where they are instantly made available for public perusal.