Last Updated: Nov. 8, 2016   
   Editor: Sarah Ramsey   
   Tags:  CubeSats, CYGNSS (Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System), Earth,   
   Small Satellite Missions   
   Hurricanes   
   Nov. 10, 2016   
   RELEASE 16-106   
   NASA Set to Launch New Fleet of Hurricane-Tracking Small Satellites   
   Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System   
   The primary science goal of Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System   
   (CYGNSS) is to better understand how and why winds in hurricanes intensify.   
   CYGNSS is a unique satellite mission that consists of a constellation of eight   
   small satellites.   
   Credits: NASA   
       
   NASA is set to launch its first Earth science small satellite constellation,   
   which will help improve hurricane intensity, track, and storm surge forecasts,   
   on Dec. 12 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.   
       
   The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) hurricane mission will   
   measure previously unknown details crucial to accurately understanding the   
   formation and intensity of tropical cyclones and hurricanes.   
       
   "This is a first-of-its-kind mission," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate   
   administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's   
   headquarters in Washington. "As a constellation of eight spacecraft, CYGNSS   
   will do what a single craft can't in terms of measuring surface wind speeds   
   inside hurricanes and tropical cyclones at high time-resolution, to improve   
   our ability to understand and predict how these deadly storms develop."   
       
   The CYGNSS mission is expected to lead to more accurate weather forecasts of   
   wind speeds and storm surges -- the walls of water that do the most damage   
   when hurricanes make landfall.   
       
   Utilizing the same GPS technology that allows drivers to navigate streets,   
   CYGNSS will use a constellation of eight microsatellite observatories to   
   measure the surface roughness of the world's oceans. Mission scientists will   
   use the data collected to calculate surface wind speeds, providing a better   
   picture of a storm's strength and intensity.   
       
   Unlike existing operational weather satellites, CYGNSS can penetrate the heavy   
   rain of a hurricane's eyewall to gather data about a storm's intense inner   
   core. The eyewall is the thick ring of thunderstorm clouds and rain that   
   surrounds the calm eye of a hurricane. The inner core region acts like the   
   engine of the storm by extracting energy from the warm surface water via   
   evaporation into the atmosphere. The latent heat contained in the water vapor   
   is then released into the atmosphere by condensation and precipitation. The   
   intense rain in eyewalls blocks the view of the inner core by conventional   
   satellites, however, preventing scientists from gathering much information   
   about this key region of a developing hurricane.   
       
   "Today, we can't see what's happening under the rain," said Chris Ruf,   
   professor in the University of Michigan's Department of Climate and Space   
   Sciences and Engineering and principal investigator for the CYGNSS mission.   
   "We can measure the wind outside of the storm cell with present systems. But   
   there's a gap in our knowledge of cyclone processes in the critical eyewall   
   region of the storm - a gap that will be filled by the CYGNSS data. The models   
   try to predict what is happening under the rain, but they are much less   
   accurate without continuous experimental validation."   
       
   The CYGNSS small satellite observatories will continuously monitor surface   
   winds over the oceans across Earth's tropical hurricane-belt latitudes. Each   
   satellite is capable of capturing four wind measurements per second, adding as   
   much as 32 wind measurements per second for the entire constellation.   
       
   CYGNSS is the first complete orbital mission competitively selected by NASA's   
   Earth Venture program. Earth Venture focuses on low-cost, rapidly developed,   
   science-driven missions to enhance our understanding of the current state of   
   Earth and its complex, dynamic system and enable continual improvement in the   
   prediction of future changes.   
       
   The Space Physics Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan College of   
   Engineering in Ann Arbor leads overall mission execution in partnership with   
   the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, and its Climate and   
   Space Sciences and Engineering department leads the science investigation. The   
   Earth Science Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate oversees the   
   mission.   
       
   For more information about NASA's CYGNSS mission, visit:   
       
   http://www.nasa.gov/cygnss   
       
   -end-   
       
       
   Regards,   
       
   Roger   
      
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