BackForwardInstrument:  GeoSTAR 

Instrument details
Acronym GeoSTAR
Full name Geostationary Synthetic Thinned-Aperture Radiometer
Purpose Frequent MW temperature and humidity sounding. Also precipitation
Short description Synthetic aperture antenna, three arms in Y-shape configuration inscribed in 6-m diameter. Bands: 54 GHz for temperature and 183 GHz for humidity
Background Technological development. A reduced-scale model, called GeoSTAR-light, is now being studied for a "GeoStorm" mission
Scanning Technique Non-scanning. Full-disk image synthetised from arrays of 300 spectrometers (54 GHz) or 600 spectrometers (183 GHz)
Resolution 50 km s.s.p. at 54 GHz, 25 km s.s.p. at 183 GHz
Coverage / Cycle Full disk in 1 hour
Mass Power Data Rate

 

Providing Agency NASA
Instrument Maturity Demonstration pending
Utilization Period: TBD
Last update: 2012-09-04
Detailed characteristics
Satellites this instrument is flying on

Note: a red tag indicates satellites no longer operational, a green tag indicates operational satellites, a blue tag indicates future satellites

Instrument classification
  • Earth observation instrument
  • Passive microwave radiometer
  • Cross-track, special or non-scanning microwave radiometer
WIGOS Subcomponents No WIGOS subcomponents have been defined.
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Accumulated precipitation
  • Atmospheric temperature
  • Precipitation intensity at surface (liquid or solid)
  • Specific humidity
Evaluation of Measurements