Spacetrack Directory Name | TROPICS PATHFINDER |
Alternative name | 2021-059Y |
Orbit launches | 2021-06-30 g.02:00 |
Country/organisation of origin | USA (US) |
Starting point | AFETR (Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral, USA) |
WWW | Here |
Perigee | 520 km |
Apogee | 534 km |
Height TROPICS PATHFINDER | 415.69 km |
Provide rapid-refresh microwave measurements (21 minutes for the baseline mission, 31 minutes for the threshold mission) over the tropics that can be used to observe the thermodynamics of the troposphere and precipitation structure for storm systems at the mesoscale and synoptic scale over the entire storm lifecycle.
Radiometer scanning across the satellite track at 30 RPM to provide temperature profiles using 7 channels near 118.75 GHz oxygen absorption line, water vapor profiles using 3 channels near the 183 GHz water vapor absorption line, imagery in a single channel near 90 GHz for precipitation measurements, and a single channel at 206 GHz for cloud ice measurements.
The antenna listens in at 12 microwave channels between 90 to 205 gigahertz, where the relevant emission signals are strongest. These channels capture signals at different heights throughout the lowest layer of the atmosphere, or troposphere, where most weather we experience occurs.