Soon, weather scientists will have an even stronger pair of eyes in the sky once a new advanced weather satellite launches this March.

The GOES-T, short for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, is aiming for liftoff March 1 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket thanks to a collaboration between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA along with several other partners.

GOES-T, roughly the size of a small school bus, is the third in the GOES-R series of four advanced weather satellites. The value of GOES-T isn't exactly clear as the NOAA doesn't individually price out satellites one by one, said Pam Sullivan director of the GOES-R program. However, Sullivan did say the four-part project costs $11.7 billion.

"The value is returned to us public in benefits provided," Sullivan. "The observations of these satellites is even more critical now that the U.S. is experiencing a record number of billion dollar disasters."

Last year, dry and heated conditions led to an unprecedented amount wildfires in the northwest U.S. with thousands of acres burnt. Both Germany and China experienced historic flooding, and the Atlantic observed 21 named tropical systems—the third highest amount behind 2020′s 30 named storms and 2005′s 27 total.