The two cubesats, the founding members of the agency's TROPICS network, launched today (May 7) atop a Rocket Lab Electron rocket, which lifted off from the company's New Zealand site at 9 p.m. EDT (0100 GMT and 1 p.m. on May 8 local New Zealand time).
About 33 minutes after liftoff, the Electron deployed the shoebox-sized TROPICS cubesats into low Earth orbit, about 340 miles (550 kilometers) above Earth.
The TROPICS constellation (short for "Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation Structure and Storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats") will consist of four cubesats in low Earth orbit.
Rocket Lab will launch the other two satellites about two weeks from now, if all goes according to plan. (For the constellation to function properly, all four TROPICS satellites must be deployed within a same 60-day period.)
The TROPICS cubesats will measure the hour-by-hour formation and progression of tropical cyclones and hurricanes with enhanced specificity.
Source: www.space.com
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