From left: Riko Oki, GPM Project Scientist, JAXA, Yukari Takayabu, Professor, Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, Gail Skofronick-Jackson, NASA GPM Project Scientist, and, Ramesh Kakar, GPM Program Earth Scientist , NASA Headquarters, are seen during a science briefing for the launch of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory aboard an H-IIA rocket, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014, Tanegashima Space Center, Japan. Launch is scheduled for early in the morning of Feb. 28 Japan time. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)