Abstract – The US/Japan Tropical Rainfall Measuring

Mission has led to the initiation of a new international satellite precipitation mission, the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, to be led primarily by NASA and NASDA. One of the main objectives of GPM is high frequency global sampling of rainfall. Our work develops passive microwave radiometer technology that is suitable for high quality rain measurement but is also lightweight and low power, and follows a technology path that leads to significantly reduced per unit recurring costs. Taken together, these improvements will permit multiple sensors to be flown in a constellation of small satellites, thereby increasing the sampling frequency of global precipitation