Tiny Weather Satellite Will Boost Storm Forecasts
Nov 14, 2017 21:55:30 GMT 10
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Post by Wes Gear on Nov 14, 2017 21:55:30 GMT 10
Tiny Weather Satellite Will Boost Storm Forecasts
NASA is launching a shoebox-size satellite into Earth's orbit that could help improve weather forecasting.
The Microwave Radiometer Technology Acceleration (MiRaTA) cubesat is expected to launch to space on Tuesday (Nov. 14) alongside another weather satellite called the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1), and four other cubesats. MiRaTA is designed to study temperature, water vapor and cloud ice, which will be helpful for predicting the weather and tracking storms, according to a statement from NASA. You can watch the launch live at 4:47 a.m. EST (0947 GMT) here on Space.com, courtesy of NASA.
Most weather satellites are very large, but the MiRaTA offers a much smaller and more compact design. The satellite is equipped with two Earth sensors, including a microwave radiometer and a GPS radio occultation (GPSRO) receiver.
The Microwave Radiometer Technology Acceleration (MiRaTA) satellite is the size of a shoebox, but it will be able to take powerful atmospheric science measurements from orbit after launch.
Credit: MIT Lincoln Laboratory
A microwave radiometer measures radio-frequency signals related to the thermal radiation emitted by atmospheric gases, such as molecular oxygen and water vapor, and it can also detect particles such as cloud ice. Most weather satellites are equipped with this technology already; however, shrinking the instrument to fit on a CubeSat meant that NASA also had to build a calibration target that was small enough to fit on the miniature satellite.
"You don't have room for the bulky calibration targets that you would normally use on larger satellites," Kerri Cahoy, principal investigator for MiRaTA and an associate professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in the statement. "Microwave radiometer calibration targets on larger satellites can be the size of a toaster, but for cubesats, it would have to be the size of a deck of cards."
That's where the GPSRO comes in. The technology uses radio signals from other GPS satellites located higher in Earth's orbit to calibrate the cubesat's radiometers. This is important for collecting data that can be used for accurate weather and climate models, officials said in the statement.
If all goes according to plan, the MiRaTA cubesat will be up and running three weeks after launch and will start transmitting validation data within three months of that. The team will analyze data to determine the success of the satellite technology.
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NASA is launching a shoebox-size satellite into Earth's orbit that could help improve weather forecasting.
The Microwave Radiometer Technology Acceleration (MiRaTA) cubesat is expected to launch to space on Tuesday (Nov. 14) alongside another weather satellite called the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1), and four other cubesats. MiRaTA is designed to study temperature, water vapor and cloud ice, which will be helpful for predicting the weather and tracking storms, according to a statement from NASA. You can watch the launch live at 4:47 a.m. EST (0947 GMT) here on Space.com, courtesy of NASA.
Most weather satellites are very large, but the MiRaTA offers a much smaller and more compact design. The satellite is equipped with two Earth sensors, including a microwave radiometer and a GPS radio occultation (GPSRO) receiver.
The Microwave Radiometer Technology Acceleration (MiRaTA) satellite is the size of a shoebox, but it will be able to take powerful atmospheric science measurements from orbit after launch.
Credit: MIT Lincoln Laboratory
A microwave radiometer measures radio-frequency signals related to the thermal radiation emitted by atmospheric gases, such as molecular oxygen and water vapor, and it can also detect particles such as cloud ice. Most weather satellites are equipped with this technology already; however, shrinking the instrument to fit on a CubeSat meant that NASA also had to build a calibration target that was small enough to fit on the miniature satellite.
"You don't have room for the bulky calibration targets that you would normally use on larger satellites," Kerri Cahoy, principal investigator for MiRaTA and an associate professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in the statement. "Microwave radiometer calibration targets on larger satellites can be the size of a toaster, but for cubesats, it would have to be the size of a deck of cards."
That's where the GPSRO comes in. The technology uses radio signals from other GPS satellites located higher in Earth's orbit to calibrate the cubesat's radiometers. This is important for collecting data that can be used for accurate weather and climate models, officials said in the statement.
If all goes according to plan, the MiRaTA cubesat will be up and running three weeks after launch and will start transmitting validation data within three months of that. The team will analyze data to determine the success of the satellite technology.
link