NASA picks Astra Space for TROPICS mission launch service

Washington, Feb 27 (IANS) NASA has selected California-based space company Astra Space to provide a launch service for the agency's TROPICS mission which consists of a constellation of six CubeSats and will increase the scientific community's understanding of storm processes.CubeSats are a class of research spacecraft called nanosatellites.The launch service contract for the Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation Structure and Storm Intensity with a Constellation of SmallSats (TROPICS) mission is a firm fixed-price contract valued at $7.95 million, NASA said on Friday.Astra Space will launch the CubeSats on the company's Rocket 3 from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands with three separate launches over a 120-day period.The TROPICS mission is targeted for launch between January 8 and July 31, 2022, under a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) launch license.The CubeSats, each the size of a shoebox, will provide rapid-refresh microwave measurements that can be used to determine temperature, pressure, and humidity inside hurricanes as they form and evolve.The TROPICS mission's high-revisit imaging and sounding observations are enabled by microwave technology developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory.These observations are expected to improve scientists' understanding of processes driving high-impact storms.
--IANS gb/pgh