JAXA

The GPM Core Observatory has left NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and embarked upon its long journey to Japan where it will launch in early 2014. Science writer Ellen Gray and producer Michael Starobin are travelling along with the spacecraft and documenting its trip with photos, videos, and blog posts. Keep checking this page to stay updated on GPM's journey to launch. " GPM in Japan, the Road to Launch " Blog Posts GPM Doing Well, Time to Color in the Eyes - March 2nd, 2014 Safe Journey, GPM! - February 27th, 2014 Clear Skies for GPM's Launch - February 26th, 2014 Blessings for a Safe and...

For the past three years, the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory has gone from components and assembly drawings to a fully functioning satellite at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The satellite has now arrived in Japan, where it will lift off in early 2014. The journey to the launch pad has been a long and painstaking process. It began with the most basic assembly of the satellite's frame and electrical system, continued through the integration of its two science instruments, and has now culminated in the completion of a dizzying array of environmental...

An international satellite that will set a new standard for global precipitation measurements from space has completed a 7,300-mile journey from the United States to Japan, where it now will undergo launch preparations. A U.S. Air Force C-5 transport aircraft carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory landed at Kitakyushu Airport, about 600 miles southwest of Tokyo, at approximately 10:30 p.m. EST Saturday, Nov. 23. A U.S. Air Force C-5 transport aircraft carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory landed at Kitakyushu Airport in Japan at...