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Global Modeling and Assimilation Office
Operational

Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS)

The Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) mission will provide rapid-refresh microwave measurements over the tropics that can be used to observe the thermodynamics of the troposphere and precipitation structure for storm systems at the mesoscale and synoptic scale over the entire storm lifecycle. TROPICS comprises a constellation of CubeSats in three low-Earth orbital planes.

Launch Date

November 2022

Class

Flight Project

Website

The Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) mission will provide rapid-refresh microwave measurements over the tropics that can be used to observe the thermodynamics of the troposphere and precipitation structure for storm systems at the mesoscale and synoptic scale over the entire storm lifecycle. TROPICS comprises a constellation of CubeSats in three low-Earth orbital planes.

Related Publications

2025. "High Revisit-Rate Tropical Cyclone Observations From the NASA TROPICS Satellite Constellation Mission.", Proceedings of the IEEE, 1-25 [10.1109/jproc.2025.3582502] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "An overview of the TROPICS NASA Earth Venture Mission.", Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 144 (S1): 16-26 [10.1002/qj.3290] [Journal Article/Letter]