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Testing GPM on the High Capacity Centrifuge

Submitted by JacobAdmin on

(ambient audio only)

GPM moves from the clean room to the test chamber on a dolly without wheels. Compressed air is pumped out under airpads that float the Spacecraft on a bed of air. The wind generated when the centrifuge moves at its maximum speed are more than 200 mph - that's tornado speed. But since they move with the centrifuge the satellites tested only feel 20 mph winds. Leaning outward at 45 degrees for one test orientation, GPM comes within 28 inches of the wall. When lifted onto the platform it cleared the ceiling by only five inches.

GPM's Solar Array Wings in Testing

(ambient audio only) This and other similar tests will verify the deployment function of the GPM Core Observatory solar arrays in ambient condition. Data such as deployment time, hinge forces, and system stiffness will be gathered and reviewed for requirement compliance. The qualification unit was assembled with flight and non-flight components. The flight components will be removed and integrated with the flight unit after qualification testing. GPM's two solar array wings that extend to the right (+Y) and left (-Y) of the spacecraft are currently undergoing assembly and testing at Goddard

TRMM Views Area Of Possible Tropical Cyclone Development

TRMM image of developing tropical cyclone near Mexico
The TRMM satellite flew over an area of disturbed weather in the southeastern Gulf Of Mexico on 17 October 2011 at 1310 UTC (9:10 AM EDT). The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has given this area of low pressure a medium chance (40%) of becoming a tropical cyclone during the next 48 hours. A rainfall analysis from TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) data shows that a large area of rainfall associated with this disturbance extends from the northern tip of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula to the southwest coast of Florida. Several stormy areas within this disturbed weather are
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