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Art Azarbarzin: In December 2009, we had our

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CDR and shortly after that we started the manufacturing process

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for all the components of GPM. 

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After about a year and a half, we started putting the spacecraft structure

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together and went through the qualification of the structure and,

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the step after that was installing the harness.

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The harness for a spacecraft is a component which

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basically all the wires that we put on the spacecraft that connects all the boxes

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together with the connections at each end.

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Candace Carlisle: We started the integration of the observatory with the

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delivery of the two instruments: the GPM Microwave Imager

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and the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar in early 2012.

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These were then integrated onto the spacecraft,

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and we checked everything out to make sure everything works

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culminating with a Comprehensive Performance Test

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in October of 2012.

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Before we launch any spacecraft we do a very

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lengthy and detailed set of tests to make sure

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that the spacecraft is going to survive all the environments that

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it's going to see during the launch and on orbit.

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Art: The test program for the observatory is pretty rigorous and that's because

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once we get into space, we have only one shot at this.

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Candace: The next thing we do is make sure that everything's still

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working after the full suite of environmental tests.

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So we do deployments of the solar arrays and the

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GMI and the High Gain to make sure those still work just the same way they

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did before we went into environments.
Art: The GPM Observatory

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is about 3900 kilogram spacecraft, fully loaded.

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Very large spacecraft. And the larger the satellite is,

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just the logistics of moving them from one location

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to another is much more complicated than when you're dealing with

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a small satellite. That's why spacecrafts or

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observatories like GPM Core Observatory take longer

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for us to complete the manufacturing and testing

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and all the environmental testing we need to do at the end.

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Candace: Here at Goddard we have about 300 people working on GPM.

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About 100 civil servants and about 200 contractors.

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That, in addition to a number of people at the Japan

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Aerospace Exploration Agency who worked on the DPR instrument

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and at Ball Aerospace who worked on the GPM Microwave Imager

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instrument.
Art: Once we complete the GPM Core

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Observatory testing inside our high bay,

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we get the spacecraft prepared for shipment. Then our next step

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is to transport it to Andrews Air Force Base and install it

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on the C-5 and then take it to Tanegashima Island.

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