GOES-16 serves as the operational geostationary weather satellite in the GOES East position at 75.2°W, providing a view centered on the Americas.

GOES-16 provides high spatial and temporal resolution imagery of the Earth through 16 spectral bands at visible and infrared wavelengths using its Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI).

Following nearly a decade of instrument planning, spacecraft fabrication was contracted to Lockheed Martin Space Systems in 2008; construction of GOES-16 began in 2012 and lasted until 2014 when the satellite entered the testing phase.

[3] More concrete development of GOES-16 began with the initial designs of an Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), which started in June 1999 under the direction of Tim Schmitt of the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS).

[4] Alongside the ABI, development also began on the Advanced Baseline Sounder (ABS), which would form a part of a Hyperspectral Environmental Suite (HES) of instruments on the next generation GOES satellites.

GOES-R and its sister satellites were to lead to substantial improvements in forecast accuracy and detail by providing new operational products for users.

[9] Four years later, the number of proposed spectral bands on the ABI instrument increased to 16, covering a swath of visible and infrared wavelengths.

[10] In September 2006, NOAA dropped plans to include the HES aboard GOES-R, citing a lack of sufficient testing and major cost overruns in the development of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS).

[15] Construction of the satellite bus was contracted out to Alliant Techsystems (ATK) and work began shortly thereafter, with the core structure becoming test-ready in January 2013.

[16] The Extreme Ultraviolet and X-ray Irradiance Sensors (EXIS) became the first installation-ready instruments for GOES-R in May 2013,[17] while the ABI became integration-ready in February 2014;[18] spacecraft propulsion and system modules were delivered three months later, finalizing the initial construction phase and allowing for complete spacecraft integration and testing at Lockheed Martin's facilities in Colorado.

[19] The satellite was then transferred to Kennedy Space Center on 22 August 2016 to undergo additional tests and ready the spacecraft for launch.

The GOES Reliable Data Delivery Protocol (GRDDP) complements preexisting SpaceWire capabilities and includes packet loss detection and recovery.

[24] The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) and Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) make up GOES-16's Earth-facing, or nadir-pointing, instruments.

[53] In mapping lightning, GLM data can be used to alert forecasters to nascent severe weather as developing storms or tornado progenitors often exhibit an increase in lightning activity due to updraft intensification;[54][55][56] by extension, such information can also reduce false alarm rates of severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings.

In monitoring irradiance, EXIS can detect solar flares which can disrupt power grids, communications, and navigational systems on Earth and satellites.

[68] MAG provides general data on geomagnetic activity, which can be used to detect solar storms and validate large-scale space environment modelling;[69] charged particles associated with the interaction of the solar wind and the magnetosphere present dangerous radiation hazards to spacecraft and human spaceflight.

[69] On GOES-16, MAG consists of two sensors positioned on an 8 m (26 ft) deployable boom, separating the instruments from the main spacecraft body to reduce the influence of the satellite's own magnetic signature.

[24] Development of the instrument was contracted by Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center based in Palo Alto, California.

[71] The Space Environment In-Situ Suite (SEISS) consists of four sensors with a wide variance in field-of-view that monitor proton, electron, and heavy ion fluxes in the magnetosphere.

[74] Electrons at these energies easily penetrate spacecraft and may cause internal dielectric breakdown or discharge damage.

[72] Such protons in large quantities can cause biological effects on humans at high altitudes, as well as HF blackouts in the polar regions.

[98] GOES-16's move to its operational position began at around 13:30 UTC on 30 November 2017, drifting about 1.41° per day to a final longitude of 75.2°W; during this time, the spacecraft's instruments were kept in a diagnostic mode without data collection or transmission.

[99] GOES-16 reached the GOES East position by 11 December, and following a calibration period, resumed instrument data collection and transmission three days later.

[101] In addition to its primary science payload, GOES-16 also features the Unique Payload Services (UPS) suite which provide communications relay services ancillary to the mission's primary operations:[102] An integrated ground system for data acquisition, processing, and dissemination was specially designed for GOES-16 and other satellites in the GOES-R generation of GOES spacecraft.

[108] To aid in systems engineering and data distribution tools for the ground segment, Boeing was awarded a $55 million subcontract.

[110][111][112] The technological proving ground addressed recommendations from the National Research Council in 2000 for NOAA to develop teams demonstrating the scope of new sensors like those on GOES-16 in concert with instrument design.

[113] The AWIPS-centric program was designed to allow for evaluation and development of simulated GOES-R products and provide training for forecasters.

[114] Participants in the proving ground program were classified as developers—those developing the satellite algorithms and training materials for GOES-R products—or users—the recipients of those products.

The three primary developers in the program were the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) and Advanced Satellite Products Branch (ASPB) at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin; the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) and Regional and Mesoscale Meteorology Branch (RAMMB) at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO; and NASA's Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center (NASA SPoRT) in Huntsville, Alabama.

[113] GOES-R testbed and technology demonstrations were focused on a variety of applications including tropical cyclone intensity estimation,[115] severe storm development,[116] aviation, and air quality.