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GPM Core: Successful Launch and First Images!
GPM Core: Successful Launch and First Images!
Submitted by Heather Hanson on Wed, 2014-03-26 11:27
We are happy to report that the joint NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory successfully launched on February 27, 2014 at 1:37 PM Eastern Standard Time (3:37 AM JST Friday, February 28) aboard a Japanese H-IIA rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center in Tanegashima, Japan. The spacecraft separated from the rocket 16 minutes after launch, at an altitude of 398 kilometers (247 miles). The solar arrays deployed 10 minutes later, powering the spacecraft, and enabling it to begin to transmit telemetry. The spacecraft continues to perform nominally, with both the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) collecting science data on rain and falling snow.
On March 10, the GPM Core Observatory returned its first images of an extratropical cyclone in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Captured approximately 1700 kilometers (1055 miles) east of Japan, the images include the first space-based radar view of an extratropical cyclone.
To see the images, visit: earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=83416&eocn=home&eoci=iotd_image.
For the latest news about the GPM Core and to learn more about the mission, visit: pmm.nasa.gov.