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Here’s a question, 

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How does a group of satellites, each no more than a foot long, help improve forecasts for tropical storms and hurricanes? 

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Let's take a look. 

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Hurricanes are some of the most powerful and destructive weather events on Earth.

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The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season was one of the most brutal on record, producing a record-breaking 30 named storms. 

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What’s more, a record-tying 10 of those storms were characterized as rapidly intensifying, 

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some throttling up by 100 miles per hour in under two days. 

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Many weather satellites will generally measure a storm only once every few hours, 


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leaving gaps in coverage where a storm may quickly strengthen.   


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To help fill this observation gap, NASA is launching TROPICS; 

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a collection of 6 small satellites designed to make a big impact on our understanding of damaging storms.

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Their mission: to provide near-hourly observations of a storm's precipitation, temperature, and humidity, 

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allowing scientists to better understand what drives a storm’s intensification.   


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To achieve this, researchers at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory developed a miniaturized microwave radiometer 

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that’s about the size of a cup of coffee. 

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This small instrument will measure storm strength by detecting the thermal radiation naturally emitted by the oxygen and water vapor in the air. 

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As Earth’s climate continues to change, cost-effective, but powerful, satellites like TROPICS will be an 

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important tool to help us better observe developments driving rapid changes in powerful storms. 

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And help forecasters better predict – and prepare – for the weather ahead.