If you thought satellites were only good for getting you to and from new places, or for showing you pictures of what your neighbor’s backyard looks like, think again.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, also known as NOAA, is planning on launching six ‘micro-satellites’ within the month that will help better predict weather patterns, show the extent of climate change, and track big storms.
These satellites are tiny, about the size of the oven you have in your kitchen and are equipped with sensitive mentoring equipment to track changes in pressure, temperature, and moisture.
The new project is being called the COSMIC-2, or the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate. COSMIC-2 is a lot catchier.
Scientists have known for a while that GPS radio signals bend and warp a little while they move through the atmosphere. This doesn’t at all affect the reading that is being done by them or the accuracy. Think of how you stick your hand in a lake or pool, and it looks a little ‘wiggly’. Your hand is still there, but it appears off to you. GPS radio signals work the same way.
The denser the atmosphere is, the more these waves bend. Weather forecasters can use this knowledge to determine just what is going on with the atmosphere by looking at the bends in the radio waves and determine all sorts of interesting information from it. This is the goal of these satellites – to give us a better picture of what is constantly changing in our atmosphere.
The COSMIC-2 has another name in Taiwan – the FORMOSAT-7. This is a joint project between the US and Taiwan, and the National Space Organization (NSPO) has worked closely with the NOAA to make sure everything is perfect for the launch.
COSMIC-2 is the successor to the first COSMIC, launched in 2006 with great success. It cost about $100 million USD, 80% of which was supplied by Taiwan, and the satellites took roughly a year after launching into orbit to be in the proper position. Scientists hope that COSMIC-2 will only take about seven months this time to get into place.
The US paid for roughly $150 million of the $250 million budget on this second set of satellites, which experts say is actually a bargain. The reason is that the size and scope of the project is different from a typical monitoring satellite, so it was cheaper and easier to make and will be less ‘hassle’ to launch into space.
The COSMIC-2 satellites are expected to be in orbit fully functioning for at least five years, longer than the average ‘lifespan’ of a traditional weather monitoring satellite by about three years.
