The satellite designed to map every drop of rain and snow

Space · Published 11 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: While weather may seem random, it follows complex cycles and oscillations. To decode these patterns, scientists launched the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. This international effort provides high-quality estimates of Earth's precipitation every 30 minutes, helping us understand everything from climate change to natural disasters.

Launched on February 27, 2014, from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center, the GPM Core Observatory serves as the anchor for an international satellite network. To offer global, three-hourly views of snow and rain at a next-generation level, this project was created through a partnership between JAXA and NASA. By creating a unified database, the observatory acts as a 'key' to unlock and harmonize data from a constellation of existing and future satellites. The H-IIA rocket successfully carried the spacecraft into orbit. It began transmitting telemetry to operators at Goddard Space Flight Center five minutes after launch. The nosecone fairing was jettisoned just four minutes into the flight.

GPM significantly expands on its predecessor, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), which began in 1997. While TRMM was primarily capable of detecting moderate and heavy rain in tropical regions, GPM can sense light rain and snow across nearly the entire globe, reaching as far as 65 degrees latitude north and south. It utilizes two primary sensors: the Global Precipitation Imager (GPI), a microwave radiometer with 13 channels, and the Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR), which provides three-dimensional observations of rainfall rates. The GMI instrument was manufactured by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation. Meanwhile, JAXA and NICT collaborated to build the DPR sensor. These components were developed and tested at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

The technical objective is to quantify when, where, and how much it rains or snows to better study freshwater resources and natural hazards like floods, droughts, and hurricanes. By identifying repeating patterns—which atmospheric scientists categorize as cycles tied to the sun's path or longer oscillations—the mission provides critical data for climate research and disaster preparedness. The spacecraft operates in a non-Sun-synchronous orbit approximately 253 miles (407 kilometers) above Earth. This mission supports a citizen science project for tracking landslides. It also feeds into an international initiative called GLOBE Observer. Researchers use these observations to monitor changes in clouds, water, and plants.

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