Mission Facts About NASA’s TROPICS

Each TROPICS satellite is identical – a 3U CubeSat about the size of a loaf of bread that weighs about 12 pounds.

The TROPICS CubeSat payload is a spinning microwave radiometer with highly integrated, compact microwave receiver electronics.

TROPICS satellites measure microwave frequencies ranging from about 90 to 205 gigahertz, which can monitor the atmospheric emissions made by water vapor, oxygen, and clouds in the atmosphere.

TROPICS target altitude is approximately 342 miles (550 km), the pairs of CubeSats will have two slightly different low-Earth orbits, each at an angle about 30 degrees above the equator.

The TROPICS Pathfinder satellite, a proof-of-concept CubeSat that launched in June of 2021, has captured images of several tropical cyclones, such as Hurricane Ida over the United States, Cyclone Batsirai over Madagascar, and Super Typhoon Mindulle over eastern Japan. The pathfinder satellite also has provided the TROPICS research team an opportunity to fine tune the satellites’ software and operational procedures before the constellation launches. In addition, the pathfinder already has been calibrated and will serve as a calibration reference for the rest of the TROPICS constellation satellites. The TROPICS pathfinder helps the TROPICS CubeSats start producing useful data quickly.

TROPICS is one of NASA’s Earth venture-instrument missions. They are science-driven, competitively selected, low-cost endeavors that provide opportunity for investment in innovative Earth science to enhance our capability to better understand the current state of the Earth system and to enable continual improvement in the prediction of future changes.

The TROPICS team is led by Principal Investigator Dr. William Blackwell at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington and includes researchers from NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and several universities and commercial partners.

NASA selected Rocket Lab to provide the launch service for the TROPICS mission as part of the agency’s VADR (Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare) launch services contract in November 2022. NASA’s Launch Services Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida manages the launch service.

Rocket Lab TROPICS Timeline of Events for Today’s Launch

A pair of NASA’s TROPICS CubeSats are scheduled to launch today on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from New Zealand. A two-hour window opens at 9 p.m. EDT.

Here’s a look at some of today’s upcoming milestones. All times are approximate:

T-2:00 Launch autosequence begins
T-00:02 Rutherford engines ignite
T-00 Liftoff
L-1:00 Vehicle supersonic
L-1:11 Max Q
L-2:29 MECO on Electron’s first stage
L-2:33 Stage 1 separation from stage 2
L-2:36 Electron’s Stage 2 Rutherford engine ignites
L-3:08 Fairing separation
L-6:52 Battery hot-swap
L-9:27 Second engine cutoff (SECO) on Stage 2
L-9:31 Stage 2 separation from Kick Stage
L-30:06 Kick stage Curie engine ignition
L-32:50 Curie engine cut off
~L-33:00 Payload Deployed

Live Coverage of Today’s Launch Now Airing

Live coverage has begun for the first of two launches of NASA’s TROPICS mission. Rocket Lab is targeting 9 p.m. EDT (1 p.m. Monday, May 8, New Zealand Standard Time) for the launch of Rocket Like A Hurricane, the company’s Electron rocket that will send a pair of CubeSats to low Earth-Orbit.

Watch the broadcast here.

Weather 70% Favorable for Launch

Weather officials with Rocket Lab predict a 70% percent chance of favorable weather for today’s launch of NASA’s TROPICS (Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats) mission.

The primary weather concern for today’s launch is a low probability of violation (POV) for cumulus/disturbed weather and low-moderate POV for ground winds.

TROPICS CubeSats make more frequent passes of tropical cyclones than current weather satellites. The CubeSats use different wavelengths to see different features of storms and in their surrounding environment. This provides data that will help scientists better understand the processes that effect these high-impact storms, ultimately leading to improved modeling and prediction.

Follow launch updates on this blog and stay connected with the mission on social media.

Twitter: @NASA_LSP, @NASAEarth, @NASAKennedy, @NASA, @RocketLab

Facebook: NASA, NASA LSP, RocketLabUSA

Instagram: @NASA, @NASAEarth, @RocketLabUSA

Welcome to Launch Day for NASA’s TROPICS

It’s launch day for NASA’s TROPICS (Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats) mission! A pair of small satellites wait atop a Rocket Lab Electron rocket for liftoff from Launch Complex 1 in Māhia, New Zealand. This launch, named Rocket Like A Hurricane, is the first of two planned launches, each sending a pair of shoebox-sized satellites, called CubeSats, to low-Earth orbit, where they will more frequently collect data to help increase understanding of these deadly storms and improve tropical cyclone forecasts complementing other NASA and partner satellites, including the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP).

A two-hour launch window opens at 9 p.m. EDT Sunday, May 7, (1 p.m. Monday, May 8, New Zealand Standard Time).

Together the two launches will attempt to place four CubeSats in two equally spaced orbital planes, so they are spread over the globe for optimal coverage. The CubeSats will study the formation and development of tropical cyclones, known as hurricanes in the Atlantic and typhoons in the West Pacific. The full TROPICS constellation will make observations more often than what is possible with current weather satellites. When they reach orbit, these TROPICS satellites will join the TROPICS Pathfinder satellite which is already in orbit.

All four TROPICS satellites need to be deployed into their operational orbit within a 60-day period. The TROPICS satellites will cover the part of the Earth where tropical cyclones form and will work in concert to improve observations of the powerful storms. The distribution of the satellites means that one should pass over any spot in an area stretching from the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States to the southern coast of Australia about once an hour. TROPICS will provide data on temperature, precipitation, water vapor, and clouds by measuring microwave frequencies, providing insight into storm formation and intensification. This new data, coupled with information collected from other weather satellites, will increase understanding of tropical cyclones, and should improve forecasting models.

Follow launch updates on this blog and stay connected with the mission on social media.

Twitter: @NASA_LSP, @NASAEarth, @NASAKennedy, @NASA, @RocketLab
Facebook: NASA, NASA LSP, RocketLabUSA
Instagram: @NASA, @NASAEarth, @RocketLabUSA