NASA On Air: NASA Launches GPM Satellite (2/27/2014)

  • Released Thursday, February 27, 2014
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LEAD: NASA launches a new weather satellite from Japan today.

1. US and Japan are partners.

GPM: Global Precipitation Measurement

Will circle Earth every 90 minutes.

Will be the core of a constellation of satellites.

2. Instruments will take “cat scans” of storms from 250 miles above the earth.

3. For the first time from space a “dual-frequency radar" will be able to measure snow as well as rain.

TAG: Rainfall measurements every 3 hours will help future forecasters issue warnings for flooding, such as the record Colorado flood of Sept. 2013 with over 10 inches of rain.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

This page was originally published on Thursday, February 27, 2014.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:51 PM EDT.