COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The United States and Taiwan expect to launch six COSMIC-2 weather satellites into low-inclination orbits in late 2015 and another six into high-inclination orbits in early 2018, according to the COSMIC-2 program office.
Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (AFSMC) chief Lt. Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski discussed COSMIC-2 (Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate) on May 21 during a presentation here at the National Space Symposium. Pawlikowski said COSMIC-2 has U.S.-designed, developed and built sensors that are integrated by Taiwan on a satellite bus built by United Kingdom-company
Surrey. Launches will take place on a Falcon 9 Heavy rocket provided by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) as part of a ride share with a number of other launches, Pawlikowski said.
The late 2015 launch announcement is earlier than previously expected. According to NASA briefing slides from 2012, the first COSMIC-2 satellites were expected to be launched in early 2016.
COSMIC-2 is a follow-on mission to the original COSMIC mission that will provide an increase in the number of atmospheric and ionospheric observations. The Air Force is a partner on COSMIC-2, providing two space weather payloads that will fly on the first six satellites: radio frequency (RF) beacon transmitters and Ion Velocity Meter (IVM) instruments. The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is leading U.S. agencies on COSMIC-2.
COSMIC-2 will also provide additional radio occultation data, which the COSMIC program office says will increase research opportunities for hurricane analysis and prediction, Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) and climate processes, among others. Radio occultation is a highly-precise technique for collecting critical weather, climate and space weather data by satellite. Moog [MOG] is providing the main payloads on COSMIC-2 that receive signals from the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite constellation and other navigation satellite constellations, Moog Chief Technologist for Space Eric Anderson told Defense Daily here May 21.
PlanetiQ said in a statement on its website it supports the planned launch of COSMIC-2 and believes it is an important component of a global radio occultation strategy. PlanetiQ intends to launch a privately-funded constellation of satellites that the company said will dramatically increase the amount of global radio occultation data. PlanetiQ, founded in 2012, is a joint venture of Moog, Millennium Engineering and Integration and Earth Investments Group.
Moog is providing the primary earth observation instrument known as “SB Sat” on PlanetiQ’s satellites, Anderson said. Moog makes components and systems that go on launch vehicles and satellites. The COSMIC program is housed within the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and the UCAR Community Programs (UCP), located in Boulder, Colo. The mission of the COSMIC program is to develop innovative observational techniques that use signals from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and to support the application of these techniques in research and operations for the broader earth science community.