GMI Pre-Ship Review

On January 30th and 31st, 2012, the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) underwent its Pre-Shipment Review at Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado. The GMI has successfully completed acoustic testing, vibration testing, and electromagnetic and thermal vacuum testing at the Ball facility. The instrument will be delivered to Goddard Space Flight Center on February 29th and will be integrated onto the GPM Core Observatory satellite over the coming year. This multi-channel, conical-scanning, microwave radiometer will provide an integrated view of precipitation over 13 different microwave channels, looking at everything from heavy to light precipitation including falling snow. The GMI will serve as a radiometric reference and provide a transfer standard for other radiometers onboard GPM partner satellites.

DPR Pre-Ship Review

The Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar had its Pre-Ship Review at JAXA's Tskuba Space Center on February 7th – 10th, 2012. The DPR instrument will arrive from Japan on March 16th. It will be checked out at Goddard Space Flight Center and then delivered to the GPM clean room on March 30th, where it will be integrated onto the GPM Core Observatory. A formal delivery review for the DPR is planned for March 30th. The DPR consists of a Ku-band (13.6 GHz) precipitation radar (KuPR) and a Ka-band (35.5 GHz) precipitation radar (KaPR). The KuPR  is an updated version of the highly successful unit flown on the TRMM mission. The DPR will provide 3-dimensional observations of rain and falling snow from the Arctic to the Antarctic circle.