As per reports, in next few weeks, attitude control, communication antennas, Global Positioning System receiver, in addition to other instrumentation will be set up on the satellite frame.
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“These reviews were a major milestone for CYGNSS, marking the end of the detailed design and planning stages of the mission and the beginning of flight hardware assembly, ” said Chris Ruf, professor, Atmospheric Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Michigan.
According to Discovery News, NASA plans to launch a group of satellites called the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) to help track storm data and update ground teams on their progress.
Hurricane Katrina is an excellent case in point at just how our lack of understanding of hurricanes can prove costly and deadly, as even though forecasters had a good idea of where the storm would hit and its general intensity, the flooding it caused came as a complete surprise, according to a Discovery News report. The microsatellite constellation will be deployed into a low-Earth orbit with successive satellites passing over the same region about every 12 minutes.
Presently the current system is using a single satellite only produce a single image every couple of days.
The university’s work includes the design and production of satellites as well as science data processing. So by the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season the satellites will be functional. The physique of every satellite tv for pc measures roughly 20-by-25-by-11 inches, barely bigger than an ordinary carry-on suitcase. “We at the moment are within the final part of the mission previous to launch and the start of a brand new period in hurricane observations”. When fully assembled, the satellites will each weigh about 64 pounds. With the solar panels deployed, the microsatellites will have a wingspan of 5.5 feet. The satellites will be stacked for testing early next year.
The microsatellites will undergo initial testing in early 2016 before it will send via the Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
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“It used to be that we always looked for the mechanisms that allow hurricanes to rapidly intensify, but as of late, the question has gotten flipped around”, Scott Braun, research meteorologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a press release.
