The High Gain Antenna System (HGAS) completed vibration test and moved to the acoustic chamber for the acoustic test at Goddard Space Flight Center. The HGAS helps to provide directional pointing for the Radio Frequency communications antenna, used with NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System.
The GPM Core Observatory structure successfully completed proof testing in the centrifuge facility at Goddard Space Flight Center. The satellite was tested at several different angles to simulate the increased feeling of gravity’s pull on the satellite during launch. Goddard's centrifuge can accelerate 2.5 tons to speeds so high that the payload experiences forces 30 times greater than the pull of Earth's gravity. The GPM Core Observatory undergoing centrifuge testing at Goddard Space Flight Center.
GPM has successfully completed the GPM Mission Key Decision Point - C (KDP-C) Review on December 2, 2009, which formally confirms the Implementation phase of the GPM Mission. Key Decision Point C (KDP-C) is the agency-level approval for the project to begin implementation, and baselines the project’s official schedule and budget. The review process for KDP-C starts with the Preliminary Design Review/Non-Advocate Review (PDR/NAR) to the project’s Standing Review Board (SRB). Next, the project and SRB report to the GSFC Center Management Council at the Confirmation Readiness Review (CRR). Based
GPM has successfully completed the GPM Mission Critical Design Review (CDR) on December 17, 2009. During this phase of the mission the activities are focused on the implementation of science and engineering plans for the mission. The engineering activities are focused on: Core Observatory development (in-house development at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt Maryland) GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) instrument development for flight units 1&2 (at Ball Aerospace, Boulder Colorado) Dual Precipitation Radar (DPR) instrument development (JAXA- Japan) Ground Validation preparation for the field
GPM is designed to advance scientific understanding of the Earth's water and energy cycle but also provides near real-time data for a wide array of societal applications. As a science mission with integrated application goals, the GPM mission has five scientific objectives: Advancing Precipitation Measurement from Space GPM advances precipitation measurement capability from space using a combination of active and passive remote-sensing techniques. These measurements are used to calibrate, unify and improve global precipitation measurements by a constellation of research and operational...
Looking ahead it is becoming apparent that the future of precipitation research is probably not one in which satellite data are used in isolation. Instead, integration of satellite precipitation measurements with ground observations, cloud resolving models (CRMs) and land surface data assimilation systems (LDAS) is likely to replace satellite-only precipitation products, particularly for forecasting and hydrological applications that require precipitation as input. This is already apparent in the analyzed precipitation products over the continental US and similar activities in Japan. Hence...
