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Under the name of RainCube, this radar-infused CubeSat prototype could be the solution for more accurate weather forecasts, says NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) team.
Small, shoebox-sized satellite instruments use JPL's "experimental technology" to track storms through the detection of rain and snow.
RainCube has a tiny, inexpensive design that hosts a miniaturized version of the Ka-band precipitation radar to provide real-time forecast updates. The radar acts like the eyes of the satellite – its antenna emits radar signals that bounce off the raindrops, and the return signals help form an image of the storm.
"There is a plethora of ground-based experiments that have provided a tremendous amount of information, which is why our weather forecasts are not that bad now," says Simone Tanelli, co-researcher at RainCube. "But they do not provide a global vision.Moreover, there are meteorological satellites that offer a global view, but what they do not tell you, is what happens at the same time. inside the storm or decadence happen. "
In July, the prototype was sent to low Earth orbit from the international space station. Shortly after, the team had good reason to celebrate after a series of successful RainCube. The satellite sent back its first images of a storm on Mexico and, more recently, it captured its second set of images of the first rain of Hurricane Florence in September.
The image below shows a Google Earth view of Mexico and the white line represents the flight path of RainCube. The insert in the lower right corner shows the amount of rain seen by the RainCube radar.
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