May 12, Kathmandu- The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced that it is preparing to launch a new mission to improve weather observation and environmental monitoring capabilities on Earth as well as advance space weather observations.

NASA and SpaceX are targeting June 25 for the mission launch. Its code name is 'Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite You'.

The satellite will be launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The satellite will carry a suite of instruments to detect near-space weather hazards, including advanced imagery, atmospheric measurements, real-time mapping of lightning activity and a new compact coronagraph to detect the coronal and characterize the outer layer of the Sun's atmosphere.