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- [Source: COSMIC Home Page at UCAR, http://www.cosmic.ucar.edu/about.html ]
FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC Overview FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC (F3C) is a joint Taiwan/US science mission for weather, climate, space weather and geodetic research. The F3C mission was successfully launched on 15 April 2006. Six identical micro satellites, each carrying an advanced GPS radio occultation (RO) receiver, a Tiny Ionospheric Photometer (TIP) and a Tri Band Beacon (TBB) were deployed. The satellites have since been raised by Taiwan's National Space Organization (NSPO) to their final orbit altitude at 800km to achieve an operational constellation of six orbital planes separated by 30 degrees. The payload science data are currently being downloaded every orbit via two NOAA TT&C stations (in Alaska and Norway) and one NSF/NASA station in McMurdo, Antarctica and transferred to the COSMIC Data Analysis and Archival Center (CDAAC) at UCAR in Boulder. The CDAAC currently processes the COSMIC science data in near real time - Ninety percent of RO profiles are delivered to operational weather centers within 3 hours of observation. CDAAC also reprocesses data in a more accurate post-processed mode (within 6 weeks of observation) for COSMIC as well as other missions including GPS/MET, CHAMP, SAC-C, and GRACE. COSMIC is currently providing between 1000-2500 daily RO profiles in the neutral atmosphere, 1000-2500 daily electron density profiles and total electron content arcs, and TIP radiance products. The data have already demonstrated their value for operational weather forecasting, hurricane forecasting, and investigations of the atmospheric boundary layer. The data have been used extensively to test ionospheric models and their use in operational space weather models is under development. COSMIC GPS RO data also have the potential to be of great benefit to climate studies due to their demonstrated high precision and global and diurnal sampling coverage. Group: Platform_Details Entry_ID: COSMIC/FORMOSAT-3 Group: Platform_Identification Platform_Category: Solar/Space Observation Satellites Short_Name: COSMIC/FORMOSAT-3 Long_Name: Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate End_Group Group: Synonymous_Platform_Names Short_Name: FORMSAT 3A Short_Name: FORMSAT 3B Short_Name: FORMSAT 3C Short_Name: FORMSAT 3D Short_Name: FORMSAT 3E Short_Name: FORMSAT 3F Short_Name: 2006-011A Short_Name: 2006-011B Short_Name: 2006-011C Short_Name: 2006-011D Short_Name: 2006-011E Short_Name: 2006-011F End_Group Group: Platform_Associated_Instruments Short_Name: RO Short_Name: TBB Short_Name: TIP End_Group Group: Orbit Orbit_Inclination: 72 degrees Period: 95 m Perigee: 496 km Apogee: 540 km Orbit_Type: LEO > Low Earth Orbit > Inclined Non-Polar End_Group Online_Resource: http://www.cosmic.ucar.edu/ Online_Resource: http://cosmic-io.cosmic.ucar.edu/cdaac/ Online_Resource: http://www.nspo.org.tw/2008e/projects/project3/hot.shtml?right=no Sample_Image: http://www.cosmic.ucar.edu/images/rocksat.jpg Group: Platform_Logistics Launch_Date: 2006-04-15 Launch_Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, USA Design_Life: 5 years Primary_Sponsor: USA/NSF/UCAR Primary_Sponsor: TAIWAN/NSPO Primary_Sponsor: USA/NASA Primary_Sponsor: USA/DOD/USAF Primary_Sponsor: USA/NOAA Primary_Sponsor: USA/DOD/ONR End_Group End_Group
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