Launch, Commissioning, and First-Light Observations for the NASA TROPICS Pathfinder Satellite

Abstract

The Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) mission was selected by NASA in 2016 as part of the Earth Venture Instrument (EVI-3) program. The TROPICS constellation consists of six CubeSats, two in each of three low-Earth orbital planes with a nominal circular orbit of 550 km and inclination of 30 degrees. Each CubeSat hosts a high-performance radiometer payload with twelve microwave channels, providing atmospheric temperature profiles, water vapor profiles, and rain rate. The TROPICS Pathfinder Mission is a forerunner to launching the constellation of six TROPICS space vehicles with the first launch of two satellites March of 2022. The constellation qualification space vehicle was refit for the Pathfinder mission and is launching on the SpaceX Transporter 2 late June of 2021 in a 525 km sun synchronous low earth orbit. The Pathfinder mission objectives are commissioning the bus and payload, run mission operations, and produce data products on a single satellite prior to launching the full constellation. This paper presents the refit of the space vehicle, launch integration, commissioning, and mission operations.