NASA and JAXA Launch New Satellite to Measure Global Rain and Snow
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A Japanese H-IIA rocket with the NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
(JAXA) Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory onboard, is
seen launching from the Tanegashima Space Center in Tanegashima, Japan.
Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, a joint
Earth-observing mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency (JAXA), thundered into space at 1:37 p.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 27 (3:37
a.m. JST Friday, Feb. 28) from Japan.
The four-ton spacecraft launched aboard a Japanese H-IIA rocket from
Tanegashima Space Center on Tanegashima Island in southern Japan. The GPM
spacecraft separated from the rocket 16 minutes after launch, at an altitude
of 247 miles (398 kilometers). The solar arrays deployed 10 minutes after
spacecraft separation, to power the spacecraft.
"With this launch, we have taken another giant leap in providing the world
with an unprecedented picture of our planet's rain and snow," said NASA
Administrator Charles Bolden. "GPM will help us better understand our
ever-changing climate, improve forecasts of extreme weather events like
floods, and assist decision makers around the world to better manage water
resources."
GPM lifts off to begin its Earth-observing mission.
Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
The GPM Core Observatory will take a major step in improving upon the
capabilities of the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM), a joint
NASA-JAXA mission launched in 1997 and still in operation. While TRMM
measured precipitation in the tropics, the GPM Core Observatory expands the
coverage area from the Arctic Circle to the Antarctic Circle. GPM will also
be able to detect light rain and snowfall, a major source of available fresh
water in some regions.
To better understand Earth's weather and climate cycles, the GPM Core
Observatory will collect information that unifies and improves data from an
international constellation of existing and future satellites by mapping
global precipitation every three hours.
"It is incredibly exciting to see this spacecraft launch," said GPM Project
Manager Art Azarbarzin of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,
Md. "This is the moment that the GPM Team has been working toward since 2006.
The GPM Core Observatory is the product of a dedicated team at Goddard, JAXA
and others worldwide. Soon, as GPM begins to collect precipitation
observations, we'll see these instruments at work providing real-time
information for the scientists about the intensification of storms, rainfall
in remote areas and so much more."
The GPM Core Observatory was assembled at Goddard and is the largest
spacecraft ever built at the center. It carries two instruments to measure
rain and snowfall. The GPM Microwave Imager, provided by NASA, will estimate
precipitation intensities from heavy to light rain, and snowfall by carefully
measuring the minute amounts of energy naturally emitted by precipitation.
The Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR), developed by JAXA with the
National Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Tokyo, will
use emitted radar pulses to make detailed measurements of three-dimensional
rainfall structure and intensity, allowing scientists to improve estimates of
how much water the precipitation holds. Mission operations and data
processing will be managed from Goddard.
"We still have a lot to learn about how rain and snow systems behave in the
bigger Earth system," said GPM Project Scientist Gail Skofronick-Jackson of
Goddard. "With the advanced instruments on the GPM Core Observatory, we will
have for the first time frequent unified global observations of all types of
precipitation, everything from the rain in your backyard to storms forming
over the oceans to the falling snow contributing to water resources."
"We have spent more than a decade developing DPR using Japanese technology,
the first radar of its kind in space," said Masahiro Kojima, JAXA GPM/DPR
project manager. "I expect GPM to produce important new results for our
society by improving weather forecasts and prediction of extreme events such
as typhoons and flooding."
The GPM Core Observatory is the first of NASA's five Earth science missions
launching this year. With a fleet of satellites and ambitious airborne and
ground-based observation campaigns, NASA monitors Earth's vital signs from
land, air and space. NASA also develops new ways to observe and study Earth's
interconnected natural systems with long-term data records and computer
analysis tools to better see how our planet is changing. The agency freely
shares this unique knowledge with the global community and works with
institutions in the United States and around the world that contribute to
understanding and protecting our home planet.
For more information about NASA's Earth science activities this year, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/earthrightnowFor more information about GPM, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/gpmand
http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/gpm/index_e.html
