Prime Mission Results of the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar on the Global Precipitation Measurement Core Spacecraft and Future Spaceborne Precipitation Radar Concepts

The Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) on the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) core satellite was developed by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). The objectives of the GPM mission are to observe global precipitation more frequently and accurately. The GPM core satellite is a joint product of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), JAXA and NICT. NASA developed the satellite bus and the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI), and JAXA and NICT developed the DPR. The DPR consists of two radars, which are Ku-band (13.6 GHz) precipitation radar (KuPR) and Ka-band (35.5 GHz) precipitation radar (KaPR). GPM core observatory was launched on February 28 (JST), 2014 successfully. DPR data went public from September 2014 and prime mission period will be completed in May 2017. The prime mission results of DPR will be reported. And status of studies on future spaceborne precipitation radar concepts will be reported.