Today NASA and JAXA Launch New Satellite in Tanegashima on Japan

The International Rainfall fall Statistic (GPM) Primary Observatory, a combined Earth-observing objective between NASA and the Asia Aerospace Discovery Organization (JAXA), thundered into area at 1:37 p.m. EST Saturday, Feb. 27 (3:37 a.m. JST Saturday, Feb. 28) from Asia.

The four-ton spacecraft released onboard a Japanese people H-IIA bomb from Tanegashima Space Middle on Tanegashima Isle in Southeast Asia. The GPM spacecraft divided from the bomb 16 moments after release, at an elevation of 247 kilometers (398 kilometers). The solar power arrays implemented 10 moments after spacecraft separating, to power the spacecraft.

"With this release, we have taken another massive jump in offering the globe with an unmatched image of our world's rain and snowfall," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "GPM will help us better understand our ever-changing environment, improve predictions of excessive weather activities like flooding, and assist decision creators all over the globe to better handle h2o sources."

The GPM Primary Observatory will take a significant step in enhancing upon the abilities of the Exotic Rainfall fall Statistic Mission (TRMM), a combined NASA-JAXA objective released in 1997 and still in function. While TRMM calculated precipitation in the tropics, the GPM Primary Observatory increases the protection area from the Arctic Group to the Antarctic Group. GPM will also be able to identify light rain and snowfall, a significant source of available h2o in some areas.

"It is very interesting to see this spacecraft release," said GPM Venture Administrator Art Azarbarzin of NASA's Goddard Space Journey Middle in Greenbelt, Md. "This is the moment that the GPM Group has been working toward since 2006. The GPM Primary Observatory is the product of a devoted team at Goddard, JAXA and others globally. Soon, as GPM starts to gather precipitation findings, we'll see this equipment at work offering real-time information for the researchers about the intensification of stormy weather, rainfall in distant areas and so much more."

NASA's Twin Grail Spacecraft Reunite in Lunar Orbit

The second of NASA's two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft has successfully completed its planned main engine burn and is now in lunar orbit. Working together, GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B will study the moon as never before."NASA greets the new year with a new mission of exploration," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "The twin GRAIL spacecraft will vastly expand our knowledge of our moon and the evolution of our own planet. We begin this year reminding people around the world that NASA does big, bold things in order to reach for new heights and reveal the unknown."

GRAIL-B achieved lunar orbit at 2:43 p.m. PST (5:43 p.m. EST) today. GRAIL-A successfully completed its burn yesterday at 2 p.m. PST (5 p.m. EST). The insertion maneuvers placed the spacecraft into a near-polar, elliptical orbit with an orbital period of approximately 11.5 hours. Over the coming weeks, the GRAIL team will execute a series of burns with each spacecraft to reduce their orbital period to just under two hours. At the start of the science phase in March 2012, the two GRAILs will be in a near-polar, near-circular orbit with an altitude of about 34 miles (55 kilometers).

During GRAIL's science mission, the two spacecraft will transmit radio signals precisely defining the distance between them. As they fly over areas of greater and lesser gravity caused by visible features such as mountains and craters, and masses hidden beneath the lunar surface, the distance between the two spacecraft will change slightly.