Session
Technical Session IV: Down The Middle
Abstract
Atmospheric limb sounding by GNSS radio occultation has, since the launch of COSMIC, proven to be extremely useful for numerical weather prediction (NWP) climate research and space weather monitoring. Data collection is currently limited by the number of satellites performing GNSS RO measurements, which have so far been the exclusive purview of governmental agencies. The aging of the COSMIC constellation and the fact that currently planned GNSS RO missions will not achieve operational status for several years mean that there is a looming gap in GNSS RO coverage. The Community Initiative for Continuous Earth Remote Observation (CICERO) mission will consist of a network of 24 micro-satellites to expand the current GNSS radio occultation (RO) profile measurements from low Earth orbit (LEO) and fill a data gap caused by expected end-of-life timelines of current RO constellations. The main objective of the CICERO pathfinder mission is to deploy two micro-satellites to demonstrate the capabilities of the CICERO small satellite bus while enhancing weather and climate forecasting capabilities.
Presentation Slides
CICERO - A Distributed Small Satellite Radio Occultation Pathfinder Mission
Atmospheric limb sounding by GNSS radio occultation has, since the launch of COSMIC, proven to be extremely useful for numerical weather prediction (NWP) climate research and space weather monitoring. Data collection is currently limited by the number of satellites performing GNSS RO measurements, which have so far been the exclusive purview of governmental agencies. The aging of the COSMIC constellation and the fact that currently planned GNSS RO missions will not achieve operational status for several years mean that there is a looming gap in GNSS RO coverage. The Community Initiative for Continuous Earth Remote Observation (CICERO) mission will consist of a network of 24 micro-satellites to expand the current GNSS radio occultation (RO) profile measurements from low Earth orbit (LEO) and fill a data gap caused by expected end-of-life timelines of current RO constellations. The main objective of the CICERO pathfinder mission is to deploy two micro-satellites to demonstrate the capabilities of the CICERO small satellite bus while enhancing weather and climate forecasting capabilities.
