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.
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.
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:
For more information about GPM, visit:
and
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
