GMI

Overview

Ball Aerospace’s Global Precipitation Measurement-Microwave Imager (GMI) is playing an essential role in the Earth’s weather and environmental forecasting.

The GMI supports the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, which is a joint effort between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to improve climate, weather and rainfall predictions by providing more accurate precipitation measurements from space.

GMI works in concert with the JAXA-built Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instrument. GMI’s higher frequency channels measure small particles of ice, snow and rain while DPR gives a three-dimensional view of a column of precipitation. Together, these instruments give scientists an unprecedented view of small precipitation particles with a much higher degree of accuracy.

With less than two percent of the Earth’s total water volume being potable, the scientific community has long been committed to acquiring precipitation information.

The GPM satellite successfully launched from Tanegashima Space Center on Tanegashima Island in southern Japan at 1:37 pm EST on February 27, 2014. The satellite was launched onboard an H-IIA launch vehicle.

Our Role

Ball Aerospace’s role in the GPM program includes the design, development and fabrication of the GMI. GMI is a conically-scanned 13 channel microwave radiometer covering the frequency range from 10.6 to 183 GHz. The 1.2 meter reflector allows significant improvement in resolution over other sensors. The GMI design addresses calibration issues from previous radiometers and adds new calibration features.

Ball’s ingenious design provides state-of-the-art accuracy, which allows GMI to become the calibration standard for the entire Global Precipitation Measurement constellation, cross-calibrating other sensors in the GPM constellation, and setting a new reference standard for the scientific community.