NASA Global Precipitation Measurement mission passes major review

NASA: NASA's effort to deploy the first satellite mission to advance global precipitation observations from space moved closer to this goal when agency officials approved critical elements for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission on Dec. 2. NASA gave GPM the green light to proceed to the mission implementation phase in a review meeting chaired by NASA’s Associate Administrator Christopher Scolese.

Building on the success of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), a joint project between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), GPM will usher in a new generation of space-based observations of global precipitation, a key element of the Earth’s climate and also the primary source of freshwater. GPM is an international collaboration that currently includes NASA and JAXA, with anticipated contributions from additional international partners.

"This joint NASA/JAXA mission is scientifically important and stands as a prime example of the power of international cooperation in Earth observations," said NASA’s Earth Science Division director Michael Freilich. "GPM's global precipitation measurements will advance our abilities to monitor and accurately predict precipitation on a global basis. GPM builds on the strong scientific and technical collaborations developed between NASA and JAXA. GPM instruments will also provide key calibration references to allow measurements from a wide variety of other satellite missions, including those from other U.S. and international organizations, to be combined to provide accurate predictions and global data sets."

The heart of the GPM mission is a spaceborne Core Observatory that serves as a reference standard to unify and advance measurements from a constellation of multinational research and operational satellites carrying microwave sensors. GPM will provide uniformly calibrated precipitation measurements globally every 2-4 hours for scientific research and societal applications. The GPM Core Observatory sensor measurements will for the first time make quantitative observations of precipitation particle size distribution, which is key to improving the accuracy of precipitation estimates by microwave radiometers and radars….

Some rainfall measurements over the US taken from NASA's TRMM satellite