Goddard Space Flight Center

Faces of GPM: Engineers

Submitted by JacobAdmin on Fri, 12/27/2013
Video Embed

An interview with Beth Weinstein, a GPM integration and test (I & T) engineer, Lisa Bartusek, GPM Deputy Mission Systems Engineer, and Carlton Peters, associate branch head at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the GPM thermal branch development lead.

GPM Core Observatory
The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is an international partnership co-led by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The mission centers on the deployment of the GPM Core Observatory and consists of a network, or constellation, of additional satellites that together will provide next-generation global observations of precipitation from space. The GPM Core Observatory will carry an advanced radar/radiometer system and serve as a reference standard to unify precipitation measurements from all satellites that fly within the constellation. GPM Press Kit (pdf)...

GPM Successfully Completes Performance and Functional Testing

An engineer stands in front of the GPM Core Observatory in the EMI testing chamber. GPM has successfully completed post-environmental Comprehensive Performance and Functional testing. These tests are performed to verify that the GPM Core satellite still meets all of its requirements after completing a suite of environmental tests (thermal/vacuum, electromagnetic interference/electromagnetic compatibility, vibration/acoustic/shock). The satellite is now being prepared for shipment to the HII-A launch site in Tanegashima, Japan.

GPM Completes Vibration Tests

The GPM Core satellite successfully completed vibration testing in July 2013, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The tests ensure that the spacecraft can withstand the vibrations caused by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) H-IIA rocket during satellite’s launch early in 2014. Sitting on a specialized mobile platform, the GPM spacecraft was abruptly moved back and forth in each of its three spatial orientations. GPM attached to the shaker table for horizontal vibration testing. Credit: Warren Shultzaberger / NASA
GPM Solar Array Deployment Test
By Kasha Patel, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Original www.nasa.gov Feature (published 7/1/13) NASA successfully completed two pre-vibration solar array deployment tests of the Global Precipitation Measurement satellite on June 6 and June 15, 2013. This video montage shows scenes from the test deployments of both GPM Core satellite solar arrays in a clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., in June 2013. Video Credit: NASA Goddard “Cross your fingers. Cross your toes,” said Art Azarbarzin, GPM project manager, as he watched engineers take their places around the...