| NASA Global Precipitation Measurement Mission

Successful Completion of CDR

Thursday, December 17, 2009

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

Read more about Successful Completion of CDR

Tornado in Central Oklahoma

Image Caption

One of several tornadoes observed by NOAA's VORTEX-99 team on May 3, 1999, in central Oklahoma.

Note the tube-like condensation funnel, attached to the rotating cloud base, surrounded by a translucent dust cloud.

Source: NOAA, Wikimedia Commons

Read more about Tornado in Central Oklahoma

MC3E Ideal Conditions

Diagram of ideal conditions for the MC3E campaign.

Image Caption

The MC3E ideal scenario will capture the life cycle of a storm system.

Centered at the SGP Central Facility, research aircraft will fly above and within the clouds while radar systems scan through the storm from multiple locations. At the same time, additional ground-based instruments will measure surface precipitation and wind speed.

Source: ARM Climate Research Facility