Earth-Observing Sensor for Geostationary Orbit

The specific proposed innovation is the use of an active radiometer in place of conventional radar techniques for measuring rainfall over the earth's surface from satellite platforms. This technique provides a substantial savings in data acquisition time that can be used to increase the scan rate and to improve the spatial resolution (i.e. reduce the footprint) of the measurements. This will provide a more accurate rain measurement because of increased filling of the antenna beam and will also enable measurements of rainfall closer to the ground. The objective of the project is to generate several optimal designs which meet different sensing requirements, and to compare the designs with that for the Precipitation Radar of the planned Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM). A prototype sensor is to be constructed during Phase II of the project for testing on a high-altitude aircraft above storms. We anticipate that the sensor will improve the quality of the observations obtained and lead to improved rainfall estimates from future NASA satellites.