Weather satellite to track worldwide snow and rain launched

A weather satellite named as the Global Precipitation Measurement Core Observatory was launched yesterday from Tanegashima Space Centre in southern Japan. Weighing 3.9 tons and measuring 4.5 meters in height, the satellite was assembled at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Its two main components are a Japanese-designed radar unit and a U.S.-designed microwave imager.

The US built satellite has been launched by Japan's H-2A rocket and is meant to capture real-time snow and rain across the globe that will help to understand Earth's water cycle and its relationship to storms, droughts and climate change.

Observations and date from the satellite will help in responding to natural disasters like tropical storms such as typhoons, Cyclones and Hurricanes. Its data will provide enough time to officials to issue alerts and evacuate people from the areas of natural disasters.

According to a report published in the Wall street Journal, this is the first time that a NASA satellite has been launched by another country's rocket. Gail Jackson, a visiting NASA project scientist, said in an interview it was a unique experience for NASA to put up one of its satellites outside of the U.S. on another country’s rocket.