MAHIA, New Zealand – New tools to help improve hurricane forecasting blasted off Monday just in time for the 2023 hurricane season.
NASA, with help from space firm Rocket Lab, launched two small satellites as part of the TROPICS constellation that will help give researchers and meteorologists in-depth storm readings every hour.
Rocket Lab titled the mission “Rocket Like a Hurricane.”
TROPICS stands for the Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats. The series of four CubeSats, each about the size of a loaf of bread, each weighing about 10 pounds, will sit in low orbit, about 340 miles overhead.
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This enables a satellite to fly over a tropical storm or cyclone every 30 to 60 minutes. Data transfer would take about an hour. Current weather satellites can only collect data once every 6 hours, according to NASA.
“Providing more frequent imaging will not only improve our situational awareness when a hurricane forms,” said Karen St. Germain, director of the Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The data will provide information to models that help us determine how a storm is changing over time, which in turn helps to improve forecasts from our partners like the National Hurricane Center and Joint Typhoon Warning Center.”
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The TROPICS constellation was originally designed to be 6 satellites. The first launch with space firm Astra in June 2022 failed to reach orbit, and both CubeSats were lost.
Astra announced shortly after that it was scrapping its smaller rocket program after a couple of failed launches. The result could have delayed NASA’s TROPICS launch of the remaining four satellites until after the 2023 hurricane season. NASA went back to bidding, choosing Rocket Lab.
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Finally, two of the satellites were launched into space from Mahia, New Zealand, on Monday. NASA established communication with one shortly after. The second kept scientists on the edge of their seats for about 5 hours before responding.
Mission “Coming to a Storm Near You” will deliver the remaining two satellites and is scheduled in 2 weeks from New Zealand, according to a Rocket Lab.