The polar weather satellite system will soon be safer. After years of rising costs and delays, the $1.6 billion Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1) was set to rocket into orbit this week. If successful, the launch will still fears that a failure of the JPSS-1’s aging predecessor would cripple the armada of polar satellites that provide 85% of the input data for weather forecast models. Hitchhiking on board the same rocket that is carrying the 4-meter-tall JPSS-1 is a strikingly smaller and cheaper probe that is a harbinger of a yet more resilient weather satellite system. The $3 million Microwave Radiometer Technology Acceleration—classed as a CubeSat because its components are stuffed into a stack of three 10-centimeter cubes—carries a cloud-penetrating microwave sensor that rivals one on the much bigger and costlier JPSS-1.

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'大卫和歌利亚'天气之眼准备发射

极地气象卫星系统很快就会变得更安全。经过多年的成本上升和延误，耗资 16 亿美元的联合极地卫星系统 1 (JPSS-1) 将于本周发射升空。如果成功，发射仍然担心 JPSS-1 老化的前身失败会削弱极地卫星的舰队，这些卫星为天气预报模型提供 85% 的输入数据。在搭载 4 米高 JPSS-1 的同一枚火箭上搭便车是一个惊人的更小、更便宜的探测器，它预示着一个更具弹性的气象卫星系统。耗资 300 万美元的微波辐射计技术加速计划——被归类为 CubeSat，因为它的组件被塞进一叠三个 10 厘米的立方体——携带一个穿透云的微波传感器，可与更大、更昂贵的 JPSS-1 上的传感器相媲美。