Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate
- COSMIC is also a code name used to label NATO classified information.
Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC) is a program designed to provide advances in meteorology, ionospheric research, climatology, and space weather by using GPS satellites in conjunction with low Earth orbiting (LEO) satellites. The term "COSMIC" may refer to either the organization itself or the constellation of satellites.
After experiencing several delays, the launch of the COSMIC satellite constellation is currently scheduled for April 15 2006 between the hours of 17:10 and 20:10 PDT. Inclement weather is currently threatening that launch window.
Instruments
The COSMIC satellites will be equipped with three primary forms of instrumentation for remote sensing, as follows:
Deployment
All 6 microsatellites will be launched on a single launch vehicle and deployed into a single parking orbit after launch. The spacecraft will then be deployed into separate orbital planes through the use of precession due to the oblateness of the Earth and raised to a final orbital altitude over the course of several months. Scientific data will be collected during the deployment process.
Orbital information
Parking orbit
- Altitude: 500 km
- Inclination: 72 degrees
- Eccentricity: 0 degrees
Final orbital configuration
- Altitude: 700 - 800 km
- Inclination: 72 degrees
- Eccentricity: 0 degrees
- Spacing between right ascension of ascending nodes: 24 degrees
- Spacing in mean anomaly between adjacent orbital planes: 45 degrees
See also
Organizations
- University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)
- National Space Organization, Republic of China (Taiwan) (NSPO)
- National Science Foundation (NSF)
Satellites
External links
- Official site
- University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)
- UCAR Office of Programs (UOP)
- National SPace Organization (NSPO) - COSMIC's Taiwanese counterpart