5:00 p.m. EST

The first space mission dedicated to studying tropical and subtropical rainfall began this afternoon with a picture-perfect launch from the Japanese Space Center, Tanegashima, Japan. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), lifted off at 4:27 p.m. EST on a Japanese H-II rocket. Just fourteen minutes later, the TRMM satelite separated from the rocket’s second stage. The automatic sequencer on TRMM successfully deployed the solar arrays, and the high gain antenna after a short timeout period initiated at separation.

"We’re very pleased with the launch," said Tom LaVigna, TRMM project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "The observatory is in good shape with all systems performing well. The mission is going according to plan."

The next several days will be spent turning on instruments and moving the observatory into its proper orbit. Controllers will then begin a detailed checkout in preparation to begin science operations.

Starting on day 6, controllers will perform several descent maneuvers, culminating with the satellite arriving at a circular orbit of 217 miles (350 kilometers), ranging between 35 degrees north and 35 degrees south of the equator. This orbit will allow TRMM to fly over each position of the Earth’s surface at a different local time each day.

The TRMM satellite was built as an in-house project at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., and launched by the National Space Development Agency of Japan.

The primary objective of the TRMM program is to obtain and study multi-year science data sets of tropical and subtropical rainfall measurements; to understand how interactions between the sea, air and land masses produce changes in global rainfall and climate; to improve modeling of tropical rainfall processes and its influence on global circulation in order to predict rainfall and variability at various periods of time; and to test, evaluate and to test, evaluate and improve satellite rainfall measurement techniques.

For additional information on the TRMM program, call the Goddard Newsroom at (301) 286-8955. The next TRMM status report will be issued on or about Dec. 2, 1997.

More information on TRMM also is available via the Internet at http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov