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Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate

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COSMIC
File:COSMIC logo.jpg
OrganizationCOSMIC
Major contractorsOrbital Sciences Corporation
Mission typeMeteorology, Ionosphere, Climatology, and Space weather research.
Satellite ofEarth
Launch date15/04/06 at 01:40 GMT
Launch vehicleMinotaur
Mission duration5 years
NSSDC ID2006-011A
Home pageCOSMIC at UCAR
Mass155 lb
Orbital elements
Eccentricity0
Inclination72 degrees
Apoapsis500km (current) 800km (planned)
Periapsis500km (current) 700km (planned)
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 (also known as FORMOSAT-3 in Taiwan). The constellation is a joint U.S.-Taiwanese project with major participants including the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), the National Science Foundation, the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) on the U.S. side and the National Space Organization (NSPO) on the Taiwanese side.

The total cost of the project is US$100 million, 80% of which is being provided by NSPO, and the remainder by various U.S. agencies.[1]

After experiencing several delays, the launch of the COSMIC satellite constellation atop a Minotaur launch vehicle from Vandenberg AFB occurred at 01:40 GMT, on April 15 2006, despite heavy fog.[2] The satellites, which orbit at an altitude of 500 miles, will take over a year to move into the correct positions to provide full global coverage.

Instruments

Components of a FORMOSAT-3 / COSMIC satellite

The COSMIC satellites are be equipped with three primary forms of instrumentation for remote sensing, including:

Sources: [3]

Deployment

All 6 microsatellites were 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.

Status

Currently only four of the microsatellites remain fully functional. The FM2's power system lost 50% of its output in February 2007, while FM3's solar panel also malfunctioned since August 2007. As a result, both satellites are operating in a degraded state, capable of returning data only during specific solar angles. The FM6 went out of control on September 2007, but control was restored by November 16 of the same year.[4][5]

Orbital information

Parking orbit

Final orbital configuration

See also

Notes & references

  1. ↑ "COSMIC: About". UCAR COSMIC. http://www.cosmic.ucar.edu/about.html. Retrieved on 2006-04-18. 
  2. ↑ Ray, Justin (2006-04-14). "Launch Coverage for Minotaur Rocket' COSMIC Mission". Spaceflight Now. http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/sfn_minotaur_cosmic_cntdwn.html. 
  3. ↑ Template:Cite press release
  4. ↑ COSMIC Current Status
  5. ↑ [1] COSMIC Homepage

http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2007/2006JA012240.shtml Comparison of COSMIC ionospheric measurements with ground-based observations and model predictions: Preliminary results 12 December 2006

Template:Space-based meteorological observation

de:FORMOSAT-3 zh:福爾摩沙衛星三號

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