BOULDER, Colo., April 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global
Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI), designed
and built by Ball Aerospace for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center,
is entering its fourth year of service. Designed as a 3-year
mission, GMI has performed successful operations on orbit while
exceeding its performance requirements. The GPM spacecraft that
hosts the GMI instrument is a joint effort between NASA and the
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to provide frequent,
near-global precipitation information critical for improving
weather forecasting and protecting lives and property.
"Ensuring mission success and good value for programs is how we
help our customers go beyond," said Rob
Strain, president of Ball Aerospace. "The GMI instrument is
a perfect example of this, as it has surpassed its design life and
continues to deliver valuable science and weather data."
The GMI instrument is a multi-channel, conical-scanning,
microwave radiometer serving an essential role in the
near-global-coverage and frequent-revisit-time requirements of the
GPM mission.
"NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement mission is improving
our understanding of precipitation patterns around the world, and
it will continue to do so well into the future," said Chris Scolese, director of NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center. "The GMI now serves as a reference standard for
calibrating precipitation measurements in the GPM
constellation."
Ball designed, built and tested GMI, and provided pre- and
post-launch support for the instrument. GMI's high-frequency
channels measure small particles of ice, snow and rain in the
atmosphere. When combined with the JAXA-built Dual-Frequency
Precipitation Radar instrument, these instruments provide
comprehensive data to produce global rain maps and climate research
data products. GMI enables the core spacecraft to serve as both a
precipitation standard and a radiometric standard for the other
spacecraft in the GPM constellation. By serving as the calibration
standard in the GPM constellation, Ball's GMI instrument is helping
to ensure the accuracy and precision of other instruments.
For more than five decades, Ball Aerospace has designed and
built weather and environmental spacecraft and sensors to provide
actionable intelligence to civilian and military weather
forecasters. GMI's design is based on proven Ball-built microwave
sensors, including the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM),
Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C (SIR-C), GEOSAT Follow-On (GFO) and the
Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite.
Ball has played key roles on numerous national and international
programs that make critical measurements of the physical
environment. These include designing and building the spacecraft
for the next-generation Joint Polar-orbiting Satellite System-1
(JPSS-1), designing and building the spacecraft for the Suomi
National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP), and building the
CloudSat spacecraft. Ball also designed and built the Ozone Mapping
and Profiler Suite (OMPS) instrument aboard Suomi-NPP, and a second
OMPS that will fly on the JPSS-1 weather satellite, as well as the
polar follow-on missions. Ball also built the LIDAR and wide-field
camera instruments, the communications equipment, and integrated
the payload for NASA's CALIPSO satellite program, which has orbited
the Earth more than 43,000 times in its nearly 11-year history as
it studies how clouds and aerosols impact the Earth's climate.
Ball Aerospace pioneers discoveries that enable our
customers to perform beyond expectation and protect what matters
most. We create innovative space solutions, enable more
accurate weather forecasts, drive insightful observations of our
planet, deliver actionable data and intelligence, and ensure those
who defend our freedom go forward bravely and return home safely.
For more information, visit www.ball.com/aerospace or connect with
us on Facebook or Twitter.
Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL) supplies innovative,
sustainable packaging solutions for beverage, food and household
products customers, as well as aerospace and other technologies and
services primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and
its subsidiaries employ 18,450 people worldwide and 2016 net sales
were $9.1 billion. For more
information, visit www.ball.com, or connect with us on Facebook or
Twitter.
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SOURCE Ball Aerospace