The Early History of The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission

TRMM was first proposed in 1984. The concept was due to Tom Wilheit, the foremost remote-sensing microwave radiometrist of his time. Wilheit and I formed a partnership, brokered by Otto Thiele, despite my total lack of satellite experience. There was a proposal out of NASA HQ for a ‘small mission' proposal. There were seventeen contestants and a shootout was scheduled at HQ. After fourteen years the satellite was launched and it flew nearly flawlessly for seventeen years, realizing the first near global data set of tropical precipitation, convection and dynamics. Marvin Geller was an essential player in the passage of TRMM from concept to launch. This short talk will discuss the excitement of those early days in TRMM's history and bring out some of its later accomplishments.