New NASA mission will help improve extreme weather forecasts

Rocket Lab is set to ferry two small satellites into space for NASA early Monday morning. As part of a mission called “Coming to a storm near you”, the company’s Electron rocket will lift off from New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula at 1:30 a.m. ET, carrying the satellites to their orbital parking spot approximately 340 miles (550 kilometers) above the Earth’s surface. 

From this vantage point, the small, shoebox-sized satellites will provide new insights into how tropical storms form and evolve. Once the satellites reach orbit, they will join two others that launched earlier this month to make up the Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (or the TROPICS) constellation. Originally intended to be a constellation of six, the four satellites will work in tandem to provide frequent updates of hurricane and typhoon development.  

NASA is hopeful that data collected by the satellites will help improve forecasts and models of these storms in order to save lives and better understand how climate change is affecting storm evolution. Each pair of satellites will operate in specific orbital planes that are equally spaced to maximize the resolution and data they provide.

This position will also allow them to pass over potential storms once an hour, providing a wealth of data not possible with traditional weather satellites, which make passes about once every six hours. The extra data collected is expected to help scientists understand the processes that place within the storms that determine how they intensify.  

NASA originally contracted Astra to launch the TROPICS constellation, however, a launch anomaly that led to the loss of the first two satellites caused the space agency to make a switch. Rocket Lab, a dedicated small satellite launcher, swooped in and took up the charge. The company’s flagship rocket—the Electron—deposited the first batch of satellites into orbit on May 8, as part of a mission it called “Rocket like a hurricane.” 

In order to make sure the satellites were operational before the impending Atlantic storm season, NASA required Rocket Lab to launch both sets of satellites within a 60-day period. The company originally intended for the second launch to lift off on May 15, but had to push launch efforts back a week. 

“The TROPICS constellation has the potential to save lives by providing more timely data about storm intensity and advance warning to those in a potential storm’s path,” said Peter Beck, Rocket Lab founder and CEO. “It’s an immense pleasure to ferry these spacecraft to their precise orbit before the upcoming storm season.” 

Each of the satellites is equipped with microwave radiometers, which can measure temperature and moisture over tropical cyclones as well as take imagery. Combined with the rapid revisit rate, the satellites will be capable of monitoring rapid changes that take place within the storms. 

William Blackwell, TROPICS principal investigator, explained that the team hopes to improve our understanding of the basic processes that drive these storms, which will ultimately improve our ability to predict the path and intensity with more accuracy. “The ability to view these storms in the microwave wavelength as they form and intensify, means we will get data we’ve never had before,” he said. 

Blackwell also said that while six satellites would have been nice, they can still complete their science objectives with only four. “Having four instead of six does make a difference because the revisit times will be longer than we had hoped, but will still be better than other satellites,” he said. 

Each year hurricanes are intensifying, with more catastrophic storms being produced. Researchers attribute this uptick to climate change as hurricanes and other tropical cyclones feed off of warm waters out in the Atlantic. Climate change is a hot button issue for the Administration, with President Joe Biden announcing an Ocean Climate Action Plan in 2022. 

Data collected from the TROPICS constellation as well as other satellites in orbit will be valuable tools to understanding how climate and rising temperatures will affect our oceans and in turn, us. 

“Coming to a storm near you” will mark the fifth mission so far in 2023 for Rocket Lab, and the company’s 37th mission overall. The company, which was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Long Beach, California has dedicated its Electron launcher to ferrying smaller satellites into space that may not normally have a ride. 

To date, the company has launched 161 small satellites into space, and does not plan on slowing down anytime soon. Rocket Lab operates two launch pads in New Zealand and recently opened a third on U.S. soil at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, where it plans to expand its operations with the addition of a larger, medium-class launch vehicle called Neutron. 

Rocket Lab officially opened Launch Complex 3 earlier this year and plans to use all three launch pads on a regular cadence.