Pulling Clear Images Directly Off Satellites | GOES-15,16,17 and Himawari 8 HRIT

In the fall of 2016 I saw my first rocket launch and little did I know that the satellite on that rocket would come to shape and fill my thoughts for many years. We're no strangers to getting data out of space on this channel, but GOES-16 is special, and not just because I was there when it left earth. Unlike the satellites we looked at in the past, GOES is in geostationary orbit and has an amazing suite of cameras and sensors on board. While it's a bit harder to receive data from GOES the extra effort is absolutely worth it, especially because it can see then entire globe all at once and send out those images in stunning high resolution. And it even comes with the added bonus of rebroadcast data from other satellites giving us a view of the opposite side of the planet as well.
In this video we go through the hardware and software needed to receive these gorgeous images and what is contained in the signals we receive.
A huge thank you to Lucas and the Open Satellite project crew, Pieter N, and Paul for making this project possible.
Lucas's Pages:
www.teske.net....
/ lucasteske
/ @teskeslab
github.com/Ope...
Pieter's Pages and GOEStools software:
pietern.github...
pn...
Artem's channel:
/ @val3tra
Foulab:
foulab.org
Satellite app:
play.google.co...
Also a special thank you to Nooelec for sending me the new NESDR XTR and a second sawbird filter!!
_________________________________________________________________
Material list:
Antenna - www.amazon.com...
Amplifiers - www.amazon.com...
Sawbird filter - www.nooelec.com...
RTLSDR - www.amazon.com...
NESDR XTR - www.amazon.com...
____________________________________________________________________
Support the show and future projects:
Patreon: / thethoughtemporium
Nebula: go.nebula.tv/t...
Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/thou...
Become a member: / @thethoughtemporium
Store: thethoughtempo...
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[@boriskalashnikov489]

"I was lactose intolerant at the time" is such a powerful statement and a flex of godly levels

[@RoboPlaysYT]

283 likes and no replies? Wow

[@davecommander3958]

@@RoboPlaysYTthere’s just nothing anyone can argue about with that statement

[@RoboPlaysYT]

@@davecommander3958 plus its 2 years old

[@lily_skye]

I came here to say exactly this hahaha

[@zajlord2930]

why there is so many of us at the same time when this vid is so old? i randomly decided to go back and watch this, i didnt even get this as recommended

[@LukeCressionie]

I work in a volunteer fire department in Southern Louisiana. To record and decode images from the GOES 16 satellite gives us the ability to watch weather patterns without the need of an external news network via television or internet. The thought of having a personal mini weather station is an amazement to me. I cannot wait to purchase and construct this setup for our convenience. Love the videos and keep up the great work.

[@wadeguidry6675]

I'm in Baton Rouge and as I was watching this video I was actually thinking that it would be beneficial to local emergency and rescue crews to have this system at their disposal as a tool to better help the public.

[@edwin3928ohd]

Luke, if you get this - I am developing software you would be very interested in. It includes full resolution GOES and is specifically made for EM. Please reply here if you are still around as it has been 9 months.

[@vidyajamesu]

@@edwin3928ohd It's been 11 months now, but let's hope we can get ahold of him still! This is pretty fascinating stuff and an application of this tech I had initially failed to consider, so I really hope you succeed.

[@edwin3928ohd]

@@vidyajamesu Thanks. Are you involved with EM/etc?

[@vidyajamesu]

David Holcomb No, though I sometimes wish I was. I’m just a science enthusiast who wants tech like this available openly, where it deserves to be.

[@hunterterrell9930]

This guy is like actually crazy, he refuses to coexist with a barrier of ignorance between him and the marvels of the world around him

[@thethoughtemporium]

That... was really well put.

[@hunterterrell9930]

@@thethoughtemporium thanks, I guess I just meant that I admire your compassion for learning

[@dronexfun8469]

That barrier is holding back humanity.

[@jameskrow7138]

​@@dronexfun8469 Well I mean that's based on perspective.... The barrier also keeps people with bad intentions from being too capable on their own without a certain level of motivation 🤷

[@dmacrolens]

That is not crazy, but you may be an idiot if you think it is.

[@dajosh42069]

You're an inspiration dude. There's no chance that you haven't been responsible for a number of people going into scientific careers.

[@AppliedScience]

Wow! Very cool! I would have guessed it's all encrypted.

[@thethoughtemporium]

Glad you enjoyed!! And nope! The only group that does that for weather sats is the EU. Gotta pay 500 bucks to get their special client to decrypt their signals. Nasa on the other hand actually encourages this. As I mentioned, they helped Lucas figure out the decoding since there were some discrepancies. And they built all their old satellites to contain legacy tech specifically for amatures and non commercial people to pick up the signals

[@redion8575]

@@aeroscience9834 he pulled data from one already

[@GospodinJean]

I should have guessed that is the kind of KZbin channel that the guy from @Applied Science would have liked

[@deejdarkstar]

@@thethoughtemporiumwhy is the l in directly capital

[@sfacets]

@@thethoughtemporium NASA gets it.

[@personzorz]

"Lactose intolerant at the time"

[@Lightning-Shock]

he made a video on lactose intolerance

[@archardor3392]

at the time...lol

[@justkarkat9575]

I love that he can say that

[@bryanst.martin7134]

@Jerremy Hughes How?

[@Elfnetdesigns]

At the time.... I wish mine was able to be turned on or off when I felt like it..

[@tylerbotkin7362]

The ultimate selfie stick

[@rodrigorebollos]

Someday I wouldn't be surprised if one of your videos is titled "Cure for Cancer Pt. 1"

[@thethoughtemporium]

I probably shouldn't mention what the next genetics project is once I'm done with the spider silk.....

[@gerardcowan155]

@@thethoughtemporium any updates?

[@ergpopler413]

@@thethoughtemporium given your history of you know, making the cure for lactose intolerance. im actually scared

[@MonsieurLeBoucher]

Curing cancer.... WITH HYPERCANCER :D - check in a nutshell petos paradoxon

[@flameofphoenix5998]

Update: Yeah, he livestreamed that project

[@jacob.flying]

never thought 1 week could be so long to wait for a video.

[@emilyrln]

I'm such a sap… I had tears in my eyes watching that rocket launch and seeing the day-night image of the Earth. Thank you so much for making these videos and sharing your awesome science with the rest of us!

[@wadeguidry6675]

I think its really awesome that you are getting data from a satellite that you actually witnessed leaving our planet. It's like hearing from an old friend. A million thumbs up dude!

[@WallHaxxx]

I bet flat earthers LOVE you. 😭

[@bugs181]

Wait, you're telling me Earth isn't flat? D= At least we still have Santa!

[@bryanst.martin7134]

You are so right! I have never seen such a perfect circle of a planet beaten by innumerous stellar bodies.

[@rogue_spirit]

Was looking for a "flat earth" related comment 😂

[@ihateeverything3972]

@@bryanst.martin7134 Do you realise how big the Earth is? You can't see a pimple on my face from 10ft away. Those details are minuscule.

[@crypto.7562]

yeah we had got the setup working and one of the first things we said was "Look at that flat earthers! does it look flat?"

[@gusgozar4628]

Flat earthers are sure to call this a fake .

[@asiano3385]

They sure do. Why? Because that is the only argument they have... to not have an argument.

[@dodoservicesxbox3608]

NASA literally admits the images of the globe are all CGI on their own website. Like just do a TINY amount of research before commenting

[@michaelnagle8625]

Excellent. Just what i've been looking for. I'm a retired Meteorologist of 40 yrs and and have a 10 ft dish doing nothing! I'd love to get the channels on Aerosols!

[@NikHYTWP]

I have been waiting for the GOES videos since I first saw you pulling images from NOAA sats when you were in Brazil. Excited to see the continuation of this project!

[@crypto.7562]

why in the world was he pulling noaa sats in BRAZIL? HE SHOULD'VE BEEN DOING GOES THERE! U get 20 vit there its so good

[@Topstormking]

I've been meeting a lot of flat earthers lately and I love sending them this video. Thank you.

[@dot-bob]

I have a lot of good memories of the GOES satellites. A few years back I developed a GOES DCS satellite transmitter used to send gauge and weather station data to the satellite. Perhaps I may need to break out the old RTL-SDR receiver and see if I can decode the DCS data to see if I recognize any transmissions from my old design.

[@b1aflatoxin]

Nice!

[@eternalmastery]

Every flat earther needs to watch this.. and watch it REAL good.

[@user-vn1di4oq4w]

I was thinking the same thing. They will just say this guy is a disinfo gov agent or the satellites have pre-loaded CGI images lol. They can never admit theyre wrong. Most are way to invested to ever retract their belief systems

[@SecularMentat]

Yup, when I did satellite comms for the army, we'd use a LNA (Low Noise amplifier) that had a bandpass filter on it before it ever reached any real high voltage amplifiers. Good base satellite comms knowledge there.

[@connorpidcock8328]

How can flat earthers exist when there's videos like this?

[@eMBO_Gaming]

Denial of every aspect of reality.

[@jonnupe1645]

I ended up liking the video before the commercial ended lol, I have no regrets.

[@skinnyflea2628]

oh and you uploaded at the same time as peter sripol

[@BoomBoomMushroom]

i love how calmly he says "... As Japan was under a hurricane at the time."

[@crypto.7562]

and i heard he loved japan

[@classicpinball9873]

@@crypto.7562 you really love this video don't you?

[@philippcampi2007]

Have you thought a about streaming the images to the internet? I would be really interested in them, but sadly I live in Europe (and don't have 200 dollars lying around) but I would still love to be able to tinker around with them

[@thethoughtemporium]

Once we get a more permanent setup, that's likely the plan

[@philippcampi2007]

@@thethoughtemporium That's awesome :). I will already thank you in advance and will tell you that I am a huge fan :).

[@chibill_mc]

btw the images are live on NOAAs site for them updating about ever 5 to 15 minutes I think.

[@danilooliveira6580]

you can already get them from the noaa, they release the data in real time for free www.nesdis.noaa.gov/content/imagery-and-data

[@HarrisonMartinson]

There's a few websites that offer live satellite feeds.

[@chris_1337]

Been waiting for this and .. those pictures are SO awesome and so worth it! You guys rock, thanks for doing this!

[@stevestelly3063]

You make us proud to be human.

[@BootedTech]

Very nice, now the hard part, convincing flat earthers that these are real images and not fake.

[@blendpinexus1416]

when i get out on my own property in the rockies (i love those mountains) i might setup serveral antennas and have them pointed and recording the signal coming from several geo stationary satalites. what do you think? cool or not? (i'm still going to do it either way)

[@human_3217]

i may do a similar thing nearby on a mostly off grid community, so we can still have warning for storms etc

[@b1aflatoxin]

Incredible! You make it look easy. :) Congrats! Bigs thanks to everyone who supports your channel and citizen science.

[@crypto.7562]

it is not easy, trust me.

[@tybo09]

I'm super jealous of you for getting to see this launch. I remember back in grad school when we heard of the GOES R... even though it took a decade for the thing to get up there... We'll take it.

[@isbestlizard]

wow I wonder what OTHER things up in space are broadcasting that you could pick up!

[@crypto.7562]

noaaa meteor metop iridium directv landsat you name it

[@NGinuity]

GOES Receive is screaming to be turned into a GNU Radio project. I have an Ettus Research USRP I'd like to sub in to play around with this. If it were standardized into a companion file, you could sub in whatever SDR you wanted that was capable of receiving.

[@crypto.7562]

mabye u could use a modified version of librtlsdr that supported different dongles

[@bobloblaw204]

So cool. I reached a new level watching this. Thank-you.

[@randomtronic]

Awesome work gents. More than awesome!

[@om3g4z3r0]

I am sending these videos to my mom, shes been watching a lot of flat earth shit for some reason, if anything fails i will build an antenna myself and show her the bloody thing.

[@infinitewisdom9619]

How did it go?

[@VitrescentObelisk]

I also want to know how it went

[@balazsdusek]

3:41 "as japan was under a hurricane at the time" in such a casual tone really caught me off guard.

[@913WildCat]

Congrats on the success! I've enjoyed watching the process

[@paulscrevane]

Don't let the flat earthers see this. Their whole life will become completely and irreversibly pointless.

[@crypto.7562]

thats very true... they see the earth is a circle and they say... Nasa took the pictures and edited them off the satelitte

[@max410bery]

OMG 😮 I cannot wait to do this myself!

[@raulandresmoch]

Great, I bought my Nooelec and the Sawbird, just waiting to get to Mexico, I already have the antenna and Im pumped to get those images!!!!

[@kg5ubb478]

Awesome, I'm glad to have been able to see the whole project from start to finish. Once I get a break from school I'm going to try this along with some other RF/SDR experiments. -David KG5UBB

[@crypto.7562]

yes, and its expensive and the farther away u live from it, the more it costs. I would say in brazil the signal's so strong u could pick it up with an FM antenna, even though thats not true u get a vit of 20-25 and no rs no drops its just perfect unlike mine where it gets a little hotter, vit 300 0 rs 14 DROPS and then i dont recieve ANYTHING

[@NikhilShinde-uo6dl]

Can you please add and complete this series of videos? They are amazing and it inspires me to do stuff like that. You videos act like a guide!

[@BIGV1N]

I had absolutely no clue that doing something like this was even feasible! I guess I always just assumed that the data transmissions were like a laser pointer, beamed straight to a receiver at a very specific and private location. I'm picturing someone with a dish on top of their car in the parking lot of a secret government agency.... This video totally blew my mind, stellar content!

[@TalpaDK]

As I like to say "I like the future", the shear amount of cool "stuff" available today is just amazing!

[@mac11380]

He sounds like the youtuber called the 8 bit guy.

[@phil-o-phobic8608]

When you're so broke you thought the story would end with "There was gonna be a launch a few days after I was scheduled to fly home..."

[@personaladvisorytv]

somebody show this to the Flat Earthers...

[@truescotsman4103]

Not one flat earther alive will come near this video they might press dislike on it and watch 3 minutes 5 minutes of it but this is their Kryptonite.

[@HachiMatt]

KZbin just showed me this... neat! good video

[@KYBERWERK]

Man I must say, I love your videos about radio. I'd love to see more!

[@coreprime9552]

So much to be learnt here. Questions like do they actually fly in space ? Which would be the dark area above our blue sky. Can they be seen with a telescope ? If they fly in the darkness of space then what is giving them power ? If space has no atmospheric pressure then what is their propulsion system pushing against ? So much to learn still.

[@erlkonig6375]

Congrats! And I want to thank you for inspiring me. I have built 2 antennas and have recieved NOAA and Meteor signals with my Nesdr smart already. For GOES, there's basically 0 chance to recieve it in europe, right?

[@KnowledgePerformance7]

Unfortunately yes

[@crypto.7562]

if ur out of the satelittes footprint, then you cant get a signal.

[@GoldSrc_]

This is way too good, love your videos :D

[@Bananappleboy]

Gordon... Freeman? *_Gordon Freeman..._* *_*chuckles_** *_You wouldn't need all that, to imprison, Gordon Freeman._*

[@k_otey]

gordon you dont need to watch all of this, you're a highly trained professional.

[@larrygraham4875]

There are no unaltered satellite images

[@harrietjameson]

define altered

[@II_superluminal_II]

Definitely sell the satellite antenna…. You sir would be started a whole new hobby for future generations….. crazy

[@paamaxows]

Will flatearthers recover?

[@aleksandersuur9475]

No, that condition is terminal.

[@ryzenryne8747]

They frozed lol

[@kevinowenburress2435]

This is cool I had been wondering about GOES for a few years now.

[@JakeTheN3rd]

you guys need to make a video on the software and the corner reflector. Edit1: Also how accurate does the aim of the dish need to be to see a signal on the sdr. Edit2: could the RTLSDR V3 dongle that covers 25-1750 mhz work and not have to use the nesder?

[@crypto.7562]

The dish aim has to be PERFECT. It took some fine tuning for it to work. Also, in a youtube video I saw someone using one of those dongles. Short answer:yes

[@ph11p3540]

I always thought direct satellite transmissions were heavily encrypted to prevent anyone from skimming off their data stream for security reasons.

[@phreak761]

To protect the earth? 🧐

[@skippy9214]

Many are, but NASA is a public agency and images of the earth from space aren't exactly hard to come by. There's no reason to encrypt for them, and it'd just needlessly lock down the technology. Also, some free PR from people doing exactly what the Thought Emporium did.

[@skinnyflea2628]

Im ready to watch it but i in school :(

[@Theboss24611]

Use captions

[@jonesgang]

The image of Earth at 10:13 looked more like a gas planet than Earth. That was cool!

[@YTjndallas]

Flat earthers. DUH‼️

[@PaulDeanBumgarner]

Awesome video!!! A must watch for anyone interested in satellite data retrieval. Great job.

[@relaxnation1773]

Will it be able to receive european sattelites.

[@jokn999]

That's the sad thing. I'd really love to do the same as he did, but the ESA satellites are encrypted. The problem is, a normal civilian can't really get this key.

[@kosikko4400]

I can be wrong, but you can dig some data from researchgate

[@thethoughtemporium]

No. Those satellites are a nightmare and require a whole different system and the purchase of a $500 piece of software. I'm working on it but it'll be a while...

[@baaaa1023]

@@thethoughtemporium It would be awesome if you could figure something out for the European satellites!

[@crypto.7562]

if I wanted to.. first I would have to travel there

[@SamSalhi]

Super cool :) Well done!

[@williamedds1]

Great job with RF! This is really exciting to see and can't wait for more of it! Can't wait to try it myself as well ha!

[@AlbesiLent]

Liars! It's all cgi.

[@Buckshot96]

So they're sending satellites up just to generate fake images and send it back? Man you flat earthers will ignore any and all evidence that disproves your worldview.

[@HighFidelityFox]

Not usually a fan but credit where credit is due. Awesome video, I use a similar setup to this but using a HackRF instead, the Nooelec SAWBird looks awesome, still need to get myself one. 73

[@Linus-nq2op]

107 dislikes are from flatearthers lol

[@blue_staf4563]

ksp vab music fits perfectly with this video lol

[@jdislayr]

Somebody get this guy a blind radio signal specialist and a grant from an eccentric billionaire

[@andremantovani]

awesome! also awesome to see out brazilian guys rocking :)

[@jimday666]

Holy crap! This is super awesome!

[@crypto.7562]

LOL meteor-m2 image on the front looks like 1-2-5 so it was around winter lol idk why its just cool that i can tell

[@FizzlNet]

"since I was lactose intolerant at the time" Epic flex :)

[@dusty3194]

My dad build similar set up by hand including receiver antennas modem and also made his DIY electric motor controlled satellite dish to skip and track satelittes I still remember watching the intranet chet from MIR

[@rooxynala841]

As always we have no real video of the rotation of the earth, but a 4k photo and video from Mars ..

[@El_Grincho]

About one rotation in 24 hours, and this is from a geostationary satellite …

[@rooxynala841]

@@El_Grincho find one orbital

[@El_Grincho]

@@rooxynala841 I asked ChatGPT: The different orbitals are: 1s, 2s, 2p, 3s, 3p, 3d, 4s, 4p, 4d, 4f, 5s, 5p, 5d, 5f, 6s, 6p, 6d, 7s, and 7p. These orbitals are further divided into subshells based on their angular momentum quantum numbers: s (0), p (1), d (2), f (3), and so on.

[@rooxynala841]

@@El_Grincho so what? Can we see the rotation?

[@El_Grincho]

@@rooxynala841 From where? Looking at something rotating at 0.0007 rpm in real time isn't that exciting(?). What is your problem? And do you want to see the rotation from the earth then just look up and observe the stars.

[@BitsOfBoris]

Goal, set. Thanks for sharing the love of science.

[@F4Insight-uq6nt]

There are no Satellites so what does that make you?

[@eMBO_Gaming]

What making claims like that make you? The answer is simple - an idiot.

[@versamax6307]

Source?

[@F4Insight-uq6nt]

@@versamax6307 My source is I am smart and there is no solid evidence. Plus nothing physical can pass outside of the frequency that bind it into physical matter. If something leaves the frequency it ceases to exist. I know for 100% fact this is the truth & you will find zero 'Official sources' stating it because nobody is supposed to know.

[@F4Insight-uq6nt]

@@versamax6307 Bird is the Word.. Not so smart know are ya?🐺

[@versamax6307]

@@F4Insight-uq6nt are you saying you have literally nothing to back what you said. not a crumb of evidence.

[@OzBull]

I have little understanding of this but its awesome

[@GuitarSamurai17]

Plz teach me everything you know

[@unitedfrontiers8372]

haha like and subscribe to his channel it's all there!!! XD

[@caleboackes9669]

Such great videos This is god tier

[@wskinnyodden]

I wonder what them "flat earthers" would say of all this... (Note, I don't believe flat earthers are real. To me that is a CIA op of some sort or another)

[@StringerNews1]

Obviously they're CGI.

[@timetraveler7]

Ok, finally someone who is also saying this, flat earth just has to be a distraction from government agencies, keep people laughing at nonsensical conspiracies while they try and hide real and misdeeds, this allows anyone who has genuine criticisms of the elites , governments, and corporations.

[@max-yg3zr]

How would I be able to modify an old tv dish to use as the antenna? Or would I not be able to?

[@YEAGshark]

He made a previous video on that, just search homemade radio telescope. As he states in the video though, it isn't ideal

[@DrMurdercock]

All CGI, The earf is flat people. LIke a dinner plate, I saw a YT video all about it.

[@TeDynef]

he just received a signal of these spraying flights. The aluminium is reflection a signal of the ground for that.

[@Wombattlr]

@@TeDynef I think it was a joke

[@Wombattlr]

@Mudkip909 we dont do that here

[@Wombattlr]

@Mudkip909 if you want to go full orion, sure.

[@DrMurdercock]

@@Wombattlr Aliens speak to me some times when I poop.

[@Elfnetdesigns]

I never homebrewed a GOES receiving system before. I bought the legit system back in 2006 for a couple hundred dollars with the agreement I had to have the all the dishs and other bits removed within the week, from a TV station that was changing from analog to digital and they were liquidating ALL their "antiquated" equipment. The stuff I have was built in the late 90's and I even got the dish and rotor for it along with all the cabling, software and computers to make it all work. believe it or not the equipment if I set it back up will still get live data from the new and old birds up there. Hell I almost bought a backup UHF 10 Kw analog transmitter and a 2 Kw FM transmitter but decided it was too much in the way of power to run it and I could not run it legally anyways.. The $500 price tag was very attractive though. The BIG Dish that I got I turned into a car port type thing by inverting it.

[@bexhill8777]

What utter childish rubbish,voodoo,bout the truth in this "cool" story.

[@michamohe]

someone at nasa either likes ghost busters to much or not enough Satellite: Are you a god? Nasa Agent: I remember this movie

[@El_Grincho]

Who you going to call?

[@TCM1231]

clearly cgi lmfao

[@IsraelAndersonShow]

More novel evidence against Flat Earth. Thank you, I'm always looking for more if anyone has something.

[@DigitalicaEG]

Cool bro, but earth is flat so yeah…. not buying it

[@asiano3385]

You don't need to because nobody cares about what you are "buying" or not.

[@DigitalicaEG]

@@asiano3385 when did you realize that your whole life is a fart in the wind ?

[@asiano3385]

@@DigitalicaEG can you accept that we are insignificant compared to everything?

[@DigitalicaEG]

@@asiano3385 true, you and me man.

[@arjunbais1]

Great video! Great work..

[@jeevajp2574]

Back to sleep

[@garybarbourii8274]

This is awesome! Any idea on how to get access to data from better resolution satellites? At least as good as Google maps?

[@crypto.7562]

idk which ones those are, but goes full data not hrit is 21000 px squared which is better

[@crypto.7562]

those are landsat learned that in 2 weeks, which there is NO information on how to get those online.

[@johncoppinger2241]

This is absolutely fascinating. I never would have guessed that a satellite could be accessed like this. (though if I had ever given it thought I suppose it should have been obvious. Considering that at one point pirating satellite TV was possible. )

[@alistairblak2633]

Just awesome work guys !!

[@CodyEwok]

THIS IS SO COOL!!!

[@NicleT]

Amazing project. Bravo!!!

[@joachimrefsland2210]

Wow, those images doh!

[@barichello_]

The projects you mentioned have Brazilian contributors. Great job guys

[@juliefarrell3957]

You’re very good at this stuff...well done ✅

[@guerro327]

Congrats on beating lactose intolerance.