Replacement of QuikScat (RapidScat) in orbit at ISS

[cycloneye]

This is great news that finally the replacement of QuikScat is going to orbit towards the ISS as SpaceX Falcon 9 launches on Saturday.

The ISS-RapidScat instrument is a speedy and cost-effective replacement for NASA's QuikScat Earth satellite, which monitored ocean winds to provide essential measurements used in weather predictions, including hurricane monitoring. So essential were QuikScat's measurements that when the satellite stopped collecting wind data in late 2009, NASA was challenged to quickly and cost-effectively conceive of a replacement. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the agency's station program came up with a solution that uses the framework of the International Space Station and reuses hardware originally built to test parts of QuikScat to create an instrument for a fraction of the cost and time it would take to build and launch a new satellite.



http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/iss-rapidscat/

[floridasun78]

when will data be send down to comp? report dont say

[cycloneye]

when will data be send down to comp? report dont say

They first have to get it ready at the International Space Station (ISS) to see if all is fine and that could take a few days or weeks.

[somethingfunny]

How large an area will this be able to scan at a time? (And how frequently?)

[wxman57]

The RapidScat mission page has all kind of vital statistics for the new instrument:

http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/RapidScat/

[floridasun78]

i remember when QuikScat want down gave nhc one less thing for them use for hurr forecasting

[cycloneye]

i remember when QuikScat want down gave nhc one less thing for them use for hurr forecasting

Now NHC will have this great tool to have better forecasts.

[blp]

No doubt that this great for everyone. This may lead to some systems getting classified quicker. Also, especially this year where we had a few systems that looked really good for a short while this could put the NHC in a position where they may need to upgrade based on these observations.

IMO this tool will be especially useful when we run into the cases where something looks great convectively speaking but has no surface support. I have been fooled more than a few times with the biggest one being 08 FAY which had such an intense convective flareup for several days and then really had nothing at the surface according to recon for a while until it got close to the DR.

[MGC]

It is launching tonight at 2:14am EST. Hope it is covered on the NASA channel so I'll try and stay up and watch it. Night launchs are awsome...got to see a night shuttle launch.....MGC

[CrazyC83]

Very useful for classifying weak and distant storms that are developing.

[cycloneye]

For those who may like to watch the launch of the SpaceX launch carrying the RapidScat see it here. Webcast starts at 1 AM EDT.

NASA Webcast

[Alyono]

Is this really the QUIKSCAT replacement, or is this the OSCAT replacement

[cycloneye]

Here is a closeup of the RapidScat.And more information about it.

In Dragon's trunk, there's another payload designed to improve life on Earth: a special radar that can peer through the clouds in the planet's atmosphere and measure winds swirling over the ocean's surface.

"Unlike many optical satellites that can only see the top of the clouds, radar can really get to the bottom and see the wind speed and direction that affects the people on the ground," said Ernesto Rodríguez, principal investigator for the instrument, called the Rapid Scatterometer or RapidScat.

Whereas scatterometers in the past flew in polar orbits, the RapidScat space instrument will take advantage of the space station's orbit, which covers nearly every point of Earth at different times of day. This data will give forecasters insight into weather patterns, destructive hurricanes, ocean circulation and even carbon sequestration.

The space station's huge robotic arm — controlled from the ground — will carefully grab RapidScat from Dragon's trunk and install it on the outside of the Columbia module. RapidScat will collect data 24/7, and mission controllers hope it will be in operation for two years. It will only be turned off to avoid radiating visiting vehicles or astronauts out on a spacewalk.

http://www.space.com/27200-spacex-drago ... inter.html

[floridasun78]

rain may delay launch

[floridasun78]

update it no go launch this morning their try again on sunday 1:52am

[cycloneye]

Let's see if the weather cooperates tonight to allow the launch to take place at 1:52 AM EDT.

NASA's webcast for the SpaceX launch on Sunday will begin at 12:45 a.m. EDT (0445 GMT) and run through liftoff.

http://www.space.com/17933-nasa-televis ... ce-tv.html

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/013/status.html

[StormingB81]

A Falcon 9 rocket will launch launch carrying cargo to the International Space Station. RAIDSCAT is included in this. The weather forecast is 70 percent “go." The weather forecast is 90% 'go!' Watch live NASA TV coverage now for a 1:52 a.m. EDT liftoff. The link below is the webcast to watch the launch.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/i ... B5X8_ldWH4

[cycloneye]

A Falcon 9 rocket will launch launch carrying cargo to the International Space Station. RAIDSCAT is included in this. The weather forecast is 70 percent “go." The weather forecast is 90% 'go!' Watch live NASA TV coverage now for a 1:52 a.m. EDT liftoff. The link below is the webcast to watch the launch.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/i ... B5X8_ldWH4

I moved your post from off topics to here to not have duplicated posts about the same topic.

It was a beautiful launch with no clouds in the sky.

[StormingB81]

A Falcon 9 rocket will launch launch carrying cargo to the International Space Station. RAIDSCAT is included in this. The weather forecast is 70 percent “go." The weather forecast is 90% 'go!' Watch live NASA TV coverage now for a 1:52 a.m. EDT liftoff. The link below is the webcast to watch the launch.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/i ... B5X8_ldWH4

I moved your post from off topics to here to not have duplicated posts about the same topic.

It was a beautiful launch with no clouds in the sky.

Sorry I didnt see this post. I saw it perfectly from my front yard....Great launch.

[cycloneye]

Dr Jeff Masters did a long discussion about RapidScat and how is going to collect the wind data.

RapidScat was successfully launched on September 20, 2014 on a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft, which docked last week with the International Space Station (ISS.) This morning, astronauts on the ISS used the station's robotic arm to pluck RapidScat out of the Dragon and install it on the Space Station. The heaters have been turned on, and full activation of RapidScat is expected on Wednesday. In a clever reuse of hardware originally built to test parts of NASA's QuikScat satellite, RapidScat cost NASA just $30 million--80% lower than if the instrument had been built new.

What RapidScat will do.

ISS-RapidScat is a radar scatterometer designed to sense near-surface winds over the ocean. The instrument sends a pulse of 13.4 gigahertz microwaves towards the Earth’s surface and measures the intensity of the return pulse that reflects back from the surface. In general, strong radar return signals represent rough surfaces, while weak radar return signals represent smooth surfaces. Stronger winds produce larger waves and therefore stronger radar return signals. The return signal also tells scientists the direction of the wind, since waves line up in the same direction the wind is blowing. The ISS orbit takes the space station between 51.6°N - 51.6°S latitude, and RapidScat will not be able to "see" ocean winds at high latitudes beyond 57°. QuikSCAT measured winds in a swath 1,800 km wide centered on the satellite ground track, but RapidScat's swath will be only 900 km wide, since it is orbiting at a lower altitude (375 - 435 km high versus 800 km for QuikSCAT.) The instrument will be able to "see" with a resolution of up to 12.5 km (7.8 miles.) It completes 15.51 orbits per day, and revisits the same part of the ocean beneath it once every two days. This compares with QuikSCAT, which covered 93% of Earth's surface in 24 hours. The advertised accuracy of RapidScat winds: for wind speeds 7 to 45 miles per hour (3 to 20 meters per second), an accuracy of about 4.5 miles per hour (2 meters per second); for wind speeds of 45 to 70 miles per hour (20 to 30 meters per second), an accuracy within 10 percent; for wind direction, an accuracy of 20 degrees. Precipitation generally degrades the wind measurement accuracy, and accuracy is also reduced at the edge of the swath. Useful data from RapidScat will likely not be available for several months, to allow time for the scientists to validate and calibrate the data being taken. RapidScat's lifetime will be relatively short--just a two-year mission is planned. Scatterometer data is extremely valuable for many aspects of hurricane forecasting, providing early detection of surface circulations in developing tropical depressions, and helping define gale (34 kts) and storm-force (50 kts) wind radii. The information on wind radii from scatterometers is especially important for tropical storms and hurricanes outside the range of aircraft reconnaissance flights conducted in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific basins, and for the regions where there are no reconnaissance flights (Central Pacific, Western Pacific, and Indian Ocean). Accurate wind radii are critical to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC), and Guam Weather Forecast Office (WFO) watch and warning process, since they affect the size of tropical storm and hurricane watch and warning areas. Between 2003 and 2006, QuikSCAT data were used at NHC 17% of the time to determine the wind radii, 21% of the time for center fixing, and 62% of the time for storm intensity estimates.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... commenttop