While each partner satellite has its own mission objective, they all carry a type of instrument called a radiometer that measures radiated energy from rainfall and snowfall. The GPM Core satellite carries two instruments: a state-of-the-art radiometer called the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and the first space-borne Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR), which sees the 3D structure of falling rain and snow. The DPR and GMI work in concert to provide a unique database that will be used to improve the accuracy and consistency of measurements from all partner satellites, which will then be combined into the uniform global precipitation dataset.
In this animation the orbit paths of the partner satellites of the GPM constellation fill in blue as the instruments pass over Earth. Rainfall appears light blue for light rain, yellow for moderate, and red for heavy rain. Partner satellites are traced in green and purple, and the GPM Core is traced in red.
The GPM Core observatory is currently being built and tested at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. 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With weather radars, weather balloons, specialized ground instruments, and NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory, the science team will be verifying rain and snowfall observations made by the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite mission on a NASA-led field campaign, The Olympic Mountain Experiment, or OLYMPEX.For more information: http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/nasa-heads-to-pacific-northwest-for-field-campaign-to-measure-rain-and-snowfall || ", "release_date": "2015-11-10T16:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2015-11-11T15:27:02-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 437761, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012000/a012050/YOUTUBE_HQ-OLYMPEX_Preview_final_VX-213059_youtube_hq_print.jpg", "filename": "YOUTUBE_HQ-OLYMPEX_Preview_final_VX-213059_youtube_hq_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This is a preview video of The Olympic Mountain Experiment, or OLYMPEX, NASA-led field campaign, which is taking place on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State from November 2015 through February 2016. ", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 12017, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12017/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "NASA Takes You Inside Hurricane Joaquin Live Shots", "description": "Canned Interview from Dr.Dalia KirschbaumFor complete transcript, click here. || IMage_Dalia.png (1161x656) [1.3 MB] || IMage_Dalia_print.jpg (1024x578) [133.3 KB] || IMage_Dalia_searchweb.png (320x180) [114.7 KB] || IMage_Dalia_web.png (320x180) [115.2 KB] || IMage_Dalia_thm.png (80x40) [13.5 KB] || WEBM_Dalia_Kirschbaum-_Hurricane_Joaquin_Canned.webm (960x540) [101.5 MB] || Dalia_Kirschbaum-_Hurricane_Joaquin_Canned_lowres.mp4 (480x272) [34.1 MB] || NASA_PODCAST_Dalia_Kirschbaum-_Hurricane_Joaquin_Canned_ipod_sm.en_US.srt [5.5 KB] || NASA_PODCAST_Dalia_Kirschbaum-_Hurricane_Joaquin_Canned_ipod_sm.en_US.vtt [5.3 KB] || Dalia_Kirschbaum-_Hurricane_Joaquin_Canned.mov (1280x720) [2.5 GB] || ", "release_date": "2015-10-02T10:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2015-12-09T11:25:39-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 439078, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012000/a012017/GPM_Satellite_VX-209158_youtube_hq_print.jpg", "filename": "GPM_Satellite_VX-209158_youtube_hq_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) core observatory satellite beauty pass.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 11122, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11122/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Rainspotting", "description": "How do you see all the rain in the world nearly at once? NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will soon use a constellation of nine satellites to make just such frequent and widespread rainfall readings. The satellites of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission will cover almost every patch of Earth and capture the volume of rain falling over the world every three hours. The centerpiece of the mission, the GPM Core satellite, will launch in 2014. The GPM Core will calibrate and unify all the mission's observations to create a new worldwide rainfall data set eight times each day. The animation shows how the nine GPM satellites will surround Earth in order to gather the most up-to-date precipitation data possible. || ", "release_date": "2012-11-01T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:52:39.654768-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 471167, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011100/a011122/GPM_cover_576.jpg", "filename": "GPM_cover_576.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "A swarm of satellites will soon keep constant watch over the world's precipitation.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 11129, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11129/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "GPM Launch and Deploy Animation", "description": "This version contains music and sound effects. || GPM_Launch_Oct2012_youtube_hq.00252_print.jpg (1024x576) [56.9 KB] || GPM_Launch_Oct2012_youtube_hq_web.png (320x180) [155.8 KB] || GPM_Launch_Oct2012_youtube_hq_thm.png (80x40) [14.8 KB] || 1280x720_16x9_60p (1280x720) [0 Item(s)] || GPM_Launch_Oct2012_1280x720.wmv (1280x720) [62.8 MB] || GPM_Launch_Oct2012_appletv.m4v (960x540) [57.0 MB] || GPM_Launch_Oct2012_youtube_hq.mov (1280x720) [73.3 MB] || GPM_Launch_Oct2012_720x480.webmhd.webm (960x540) [29.1 MB] || GPM_Launch_Oct2012.mov (640x360) [53.6 MB] || GPM_Launch_Oct2012_720x480.wmv (720x480) [52.8 MB] || GPM_Launch_Oct2012_ipod_lg.m4v (640x360) [23.1 MB] || GSFC_20121101_GPM_m11129_Launch.en_US.vtt [59 bytes] || GPM_Launch_Oct2012_prores.mov (1280x720) [2.0 GB] || ", "release_date": "2012-11-01T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:52:39.807130-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 471088, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011100/a011129/GPM_Launch_Oct2012_youtube_hq.00252_print.jpg", "filename": "GPM_Launch_Oct2012_youtube_hq.00252_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This version contains music and sound effects.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 3968, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3968/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "GPM Constellation Hyperwall Show", "description": "(Note: this animation is a hyperwall version of animation #3971.)Nine U.S. and international satellites will soon be united by the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, a partnership co-led by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). NASA and JAXA will provide the GPM Core satellite to serve as a reference for precipitation measurements made by this constellation of satellites, which will be combined into a single global dataset continually refreshed every three hours.While each partner satellite has its own mission objective, they all carry a type of instrument called a radiometer that measures radiated energy from rainfall and snowfall. The GPM Core satellite carries two instruments: a state-of-the-art radiometer called the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and the first space-borne Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR), which sees the 3D structure of falling rain and snow. 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