![\"2016-11-28-223915\"](\"\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/2016-11-28-223915-350x232.jpg\")
ISS-RapidScat was a low-cost project, assembled from spare components left over from the development of QuikScat and ADEOS II.<\/p>\nNASA has decided to end operations on the International Space Station Rapid Scatterometer (ISS-RapidScat) Earth science instrument, following attempts to return to life after a power issue. Despite the conclusion of its life, the instrument had already surpassed its original decommissioning date.<\/p>\n
ISS-RapidScat:<\/p>\n
Flown to the ISS inside the Trunk of the CRS-4\/SpX-4 Dragon, ISS-RapidScat was attached on the end of the Station\u2019s Columbus laboratory, via the use of the Station\u2019s robotic assets that are now well-versed in removing and installing hardware from the Dragon\u2019s trunk.<\/p>\n
Removing these payloads from the Dragon\u2019s Trunk is specifically the responsibility of Canada\u2019s space robot, Dextre (SPDM).<\/p>\n
Once it completed checkout operations, it began its life studying the Earth\u2019s ocean surface wind speed and direction, returning a lost capability when the SeaWinds scatterometer aboard NASA\u2019s then 10-year-old QuikScat satellite experienced an age-related antenna failure.<\/p>\n
ISS-RapidScat was a low-cost project, assembled from spare components left over from the development of QuikScat and ADEOS II.<\/p>\n
The data gathered helped build climate models and improving weather forecasts, including hurricane and typhoon monitoring.<\/p>\n
It also measured of wind speed and direction over the ocean surface, with the data used by agencies worldwide for weather and marine forecasting and tropical cyclone monitoring.<\/p>\n
Its location on the space station made it the first space-borne scatterometer that could observe how winds evolve throughout the course of a day.<\/p>\n
Spaceflight news subscription (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n \u201cAs a first-of-its-kind mission, ISS-RapidScat proved successful in providing researchers and forecasters with a low-cost eye on winds over remote areas of Earth\u2019s oceans,\u201d said Michael Freilich, director of NASA\u2019s Earth Science Division.<\/p>\n The agencies that routinely used ISS-RapidScat\u2019s data for forecasting and monitoring operations include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Navy, along with European and Indian weather agencies. It provided more complete coverage of wind patterns far out to sea that could build into dangerous storms. Even if these storms never reach land, they can bring devastating wave impacts to coastal areas far away.<\/p>\n \u201cThe unique coverage of ISS-RapidScat allowed us to see the rate of change or evolution in key wind features along mid-latitude storm tracks, which happen to intersect major shipping routes,\u201d added Paul Chang, Ocean Surface Winds Science team lead at NOAA\u2019s Center for Satellite Applications and Research.<\/p>\n \u201cISS-RapidScat observations improved situational awareness of marine weather conditions, which aid optimal ship routing and hazard avoidance, and marine forecasts and warnings.\u201c<\/p>\n During its mission, ISS-RapidScat also provided new insights into research questions such as how changing winds over the Pacific drove changes in sea surface temperature during the 2015-2016 El Ni\u00f1o event. Due to its unique ability to sample winds at different times of day, its data will be useful to scientists for years to come.<\/p>\n The end of its life was dictated by power failures. The first came on August 19, when a power distribution unit for the space station\u2019s Columbus module failed, resulting in a power loss to ISS-RapidScat.<\/p>\n Later that day, as the mission operations team from NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, attempted to reactivate the instrument, one of the outlets on the power distribution unit experienced an electrical overload. In the following weeks, multiple attempts to restore ISS-RapidScat to normal operations were not successful, including a final attempt on Oct. 17.<\/p>\n NASA \u2013 in a release on Monday \u2013 noted it does not currently plan to launch another scatterometer mission. However, the loss of ISS-RapidScat data will be partially mitigated by the newly launched ScatSat ocean wind sensor, a mission of the Indian Space Research Organization.<\/p>\n CATS was launched \u2013 like ISS-RapidScat \u2013 in the belly of the Dragon\u2019s trunk on the following mission (CRS-5).<\/p>\n Two more instruments are scheduled to launch to the space station in 2017 \u2013 one that will allow scientists to monitor the ozone layer\u2019s gradually improving health, and another to observe lightning over Earth\u2019s tropics and mid-latitudes. Following that, two additional Earth science instruments are scheduled for launch in 2018 and 2019.<\/p>\n ISS-RapidScat was a partnership between JPL and the International Space Station Program Office at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston, with support from the Earth Science Division of NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Other mission partners include the agency\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama; the European Space Agency; and SpaceX.<\/p>\n NASA collects data from space, air, land and sea to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives and safeguard our future. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth\u2019s interconnected natural systems with long-term data records. The agency freely shares this unique knowledge and works with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our planet is changing.<\/p>\n (Images via NASA).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NASA has decided to end operations on the International Space Station Rapid Scatterometer (ISS-RapidScat) Earth science instrument, following attempts to return to life after a power issue. Despite the conclusion of its life, the instrument had already surpassed its original decommissioning date. ISS-RapidScat: Flown to the ISS inside the Trunk of the CRS-4\/SpX-4 Dragon, ISS-RapidScat was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2304,1395,233],"class_list":["post-38909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-crs","tag-dragon","tag-iss"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38909"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"2014-08-09](\"\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/2014-08-09-16_04_43-ISS-RapidScat-NASA-Jet-Propulsion-Laboratory-350x311.jpg\")
\u201cThe data from ISS-RapidScat will help researchers contribute to an improved understanding of fundamental weather and climate processes, such as how tropical weather systems form and evolve.\u201d<\/p>\nSee Also<\/h4>\n
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![\"2015-01-06](\"\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/2015-01-06-00_32_31-cats_on_iss_print.jpg-1024%C3%971024-350x291.jpg\")
ISS-RapidScat was the first continuous Earth-observing instrument specifically designed and developed to operate on the International Space Station exterior. However, it was soon joined by The Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) which provide cost-effective measurements of atmospheric aerosols and clouds in Earth\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n