PHOTO RELEASE NO: 97-111P

TRMM OBSERVATORY COMPLETES TESTING - This photo shows the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) observatory in a cleanroom facility at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. TRMM is a joint project between the United States and Japan and is the first mission dedicated to measuring tropical and subtropical rainfall. TRMM is 17 feet high and weighs approximately 7,760 pouds (3,520 kilograms). TRMM's instrument complement consists of a three-instrument rainfall package of microwave and infrared sensors and two related Earth observing instruments.

TRMM's rainfall instrument package includes the first spaceborne rain radar, provided by the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA). The Precipitation Radar (PR), measuring approximately eight feet by eight feet by two feet, is the large rectangular box in the upper right hand corner. The other two rainfall instruments are the Visible and Infrared Scanner (VIRS), seen at the very top of the observatory, and the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) located on the opposite side of the observatory and not visible in the photo. The PR was built by Toshiba for NASDA; VIRS was built by Santa Barbara Remote Sensing, Goleta, Calif., and TMI was developed by Hughes Space and Communications Corp., El Segundo, Calif. for NASA.

The related Earth observing instruments are the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) instrument, seen in the lower left portion of the observatory, just below the PR, and the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument, in the lower center of the observatory, also just below the PR. These instruments provide related Earth science data about lightening storms and clouds. LIS was developed under the direction of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., and CERES was developed by TRW Inc., Redondo Beach, Calif., under the direction of NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.

NASA manages the mission, provides the spacecraft, four instruments, integration and test of the observatory, science data processing system, and will operate the observatory for its three-year lifetime via the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System. NASDA is providing the PR instrument, and an H-II rocket as the launch vehicle. Launch is scheduled for October 31, 1997 (EST) from Tanegashima Space Center, Japan. TRMM is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth program, a long-term, coordinated research effort to study the Earth as a global environmental system.

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PHOTO CREDIT: NASA, or National Aeronautics and Space Administration

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