An Overview of NASA TROPICS Applications and Early Adopter Program

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) mission is a constellation of state-of-the-science observing platforms that will measure temperature and humidity soundings and precipitation with spatial resolution comparable to current operational passive microwave sounders but with unprecedented temporal resolution. TROPICS is a cost-capped Venture-class mission funded by the NASA Earth Science Division. The mission is comprised of a constellation of 3 unit (3U) SmallSats, each hosting a 12-channel passive microwave spectrometer based on the Micro-sized Microwave Atmospheric Satellite 2 (MicroMAS-2) developed at MIT LL. TROPICS will provide imagery near 91 and 205 GHz, temperature sounding near 118 GHz, and moisture sounding near 183 GHz. Spatial resolution at nadir will be around 27 km for temperature and 17 km for moisture and precipitation. The swath width is approximately 2000 km. TROPICS enables high temporal resolution with a median revisit time of 50 minutes. The TROPICS satellites for the mission are slated for delivery to NASA in 2019 with a launch no earlier than 2021. The primary mission objective of TROPICS is to relate temperature, humidity, and precipitation structure to the evolution of tropical cyclone (TC) intensity.

This presentation provides an overview of TROPICS applications activities and the Early Adopter Program. The goal of the Early Adopter program is to allow the community to demonstrate the utility of TROPICS data in research and applications before the launch of the mission. These activities provide valuable feedback to the Science Team on utility and application prior to launch and accelerate the integration of next-generation observations in research and applications quickly after launch. Key partnerships and applications will be highlighted. Examples of TROPICS applications from Early Adopters’ focus areas include Tropical Cyclone Dynamics, Tropical Cyclone Analysis and Nowcasting, Tropical Cyclone Modeling and Data Assimilation, and Terrestrial Impacts due to precipitation.