Overview of the End-of-Mission Observation Experiments of Precipitation Radar Onboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Satellite

Special experiments using the Precipitation Radar (PR) onboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite during descent after the orbital maintenance fuel was depleted are reported in this paper. In these special observation experiments, a 90° yaw maneuver experiment, a wide swath width experiment, and the dense sampling experiments were carried out. The key operation of these experiments was a large change in the phase shifter settings of the transmitter and receiver, which was not tested before or after the launch. In addition, the 90° yaw experiment required the special operation of the satellite, whereas the other two experiments were implemented by changing only the PR operation. During the experiments, the PR was operated, and the expected data were obtained. The preliminary results suggest the possibility of future radar observation from space, and the results of these experiments will be utilized as basic data to improve the algorithm of the dual-frequency PR onboard the Global Precipitation Measurement mission core satellite and the design of future spaceborne PRs.