GPM on its last truck during shipment to the launch site.
On the back of the shipping container sits the Environmental Control Unit (left), as well as its generator (green on the right). The ECU has heaters and air conditioners to regulate temperature and humidity as well as filters on the air vents to keep out any contaminants.
Following arrival in a cleanroom at the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan, the GPM core observatory was attached to a custom-designed satellite mount which allowed the NASA team on-site to perform preliminary inspections
Following arrival at Japan’s Kitakyushu Airport at 10:30 p.m. EST Saturday, Nov. 23, the GPM Core Observatory spacecraft in its shipping container was off-loaded from the C-5 aircraft and moved to a barge to be transported to Tanegashima Island. GPM's shipping container is unloaded from the U.S. Air Force C-5 cargo plane that carried it to Japan. Image Credit: NASA The barge departed Kitakyushu around 6:30 a.m. EST Sunday, Nov. 24, but a third of the way to the island, an unplanned stop had to be made at a port called Saiki to protect the ship from weather and rough seas. The barge arrived at
The barge carrying the GPM spacecraft arrives at Shimama Port on Tanegashima Island on Nov. 26 just before sunset. The satellite will be offloaded and transported by truck to the Space Center for processing there.
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...
Members of the Global Precipitation Measurement mission team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., make final preparations to the satellite in a clean room -
- shortly before GPM was placed in a transportation container for its 7,300-mile trip to the launch site at Tanegashima Space Center, Japan.