Next month, NASA will launch its CYGNSS Earth science small satellite constellation; consisting of eight suitcase-sized solar powered craft.
The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) hurricane mission will monitor the formation and intensity of tropical cyclones and hurricanes, helping to further knowledge and improve forecasts of hurricane intensity, path and storm surges.
The eight micro-satellites will be released from a single launch vehicle, an Orbital Sciences Corporation Pegasus XL expendable rocket, once in orbit.
Once free of the launch vehicle, the suitcase-sized craft will deploy their “wings”. Each observatory, powered by solar panels, will require under 60 watts of power to operate and weigh less than 30 kg. The wings will also be used to position the microsatellites, by tipping them up or down.
“The idea is that we will tip the satellites up for a few days to change their speed a bit, then look at the constellation spacing and maybe tip a different satellite up for a while,” according to a NASA Earth Observatory blog post from last year.
The benefit of using a constellation of microsatellite observatories is they will pass over study areas more frequently, providing a much more detailed view. It will take the whole constellation about 90 minutes to orbit the Earth.
“As a constellation of eight spacecraft, CYGNSS will do what a single craft can’t in terms of measuring surface wind speeds inside hurricanes and tropical cyclones at high time-resolution, to improve our ability to understand and predict how these deadly storms develop,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
Each satellite can capture four wind measurements per second, meaning as many as 32 wind measurements per second can be recorded by the entire constellation.
The fleet of eight microsatellite observatories will be deployed in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at approximately 510 km above the surface.
The project will have benefits for Australia as well as the microsatellites will be monitoring the entire region around our nation where tropical cyclones form.
The CYGNSS mission will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on December 12.
You can read more about the project on the NASA CYGNSS mission page.
