COSMIC-2 Status and Initial Results (Keynote)
Presenter:
Jan P. Weiss
UCAR
NOAA
Invited talk
We present program status and initial data processing and atmospheric retrieval results for the FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2 (COSMIC-2) mission. The COSMIC-2 mission is jointly managed by NOAA and Taiwan's National Space Organization (NSPO). COSMIC-2 consists of six satellites launching into a 24-degree inclination orbit and a ~550km final mission altitude. The primary payload is the JPL developed Tri-GNSS Radio-occultation System (TGRS). Tracking data from two upward looking choke-ring antennas are used for orbit and clock determination as well as ionospheric total electron content retrieval. Two limb-viewing radio occultation antennas provide more than 4000 daily profiles of the neutral atmosphere (e.g. bending angle, refractivity, and temperature) from typically 80 km to 1 km above the Earth's surface. The secondary payloads are the Ion Velocity Meter (IVM) and tri-band Radio Frequency Beacon (RFB). The UCAR data processing center receives level-0 data from a set of 9 downlink stations and processes them into higher level weather and space weather products. Products will be transferred to NOAA, NSPO, and operational weather centers worldwide following validation. In this presentation we review the launch campaign, summarize spacecraft and instrument status, and review initial validation results. At the time of the conference we expect to have gone through TGRS checkout (low level verification), commissioning (verification of precise orbit determination, excess phase, and initial atmospheric retrievals), and have started the initial detailed validation campaign (e.g. bending angle uncertainty analysis, inter-satellite comparisons, comparisons to numerical weather models). We will present key metrics from each TGRS validation phase available at the time, summarize the status of the space weather calibration/validation activities, and review planned program milestones.
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