| Nobuyoshi Fugono |
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[Slide 42]
[Slide 43]
[Slide 44]
[Slide 45]
[Slide 46]
[Slide 47]
[Slide 48]
[Slide 49]
[Slide 50]
[Slide 51]
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[Slide 42]
The TRMM is like this- the parts look like this: this is the satellite, this is the radar, and several observing instruments are installed as shown.
[Slide 43] [Slide 44]
This is the site of the construction at Goddard Space Center. The TRMM was launched at Tanegashima by the Japanese H-II rocket. Fortunately for us this was the last successful launch of the H-II rocket.
[Slide 45]
This is one of the first data we obtained. The radar observed along this black line. Fortunately, during the first data taking it caught a typhoon and a heavy rain region.
[Slide 46]
As you can see in this figure, the characteristics of radar make possible to observe 3-D structure data of rainfalls at different altitudes. There is a lot of other data - maybe Dr. Okamoto will later talk about these data more precisely.
[Slide 47]
Now TRMM is flying like this, this is only an illustration - but we imagine that it fly as this.
[Slide 48]
Looking back over this project, we were very lucky from the beginning to today. We faced only few cases that we had to change our plans of the project. One of the few examples was the changing of the dual-frequency radar to a single-frequency one, because of the budget and the satellite size. In the GPM project, a millimetric radar developed in Japan will be used. I'm very much looking forward to this project.
As another example, the angle of inclination of orbit was changed often. At first, it was planned to launch the TRMM using the U.S. rocket from the Kennedy Space Center. The inclination was supposed to be 26 degrees. And when the plan was changed to launching it at Tanegashima using the H-II rocket, the angle was changed to 31 degrees. But when we studied with scientists in meteorology, Japanese researchers required to measure the rainfall during 'Bai-u' (The Japanese rainy season).
On the other hand, the USA side preferred low inclination angle which was better to gather the local time free data, and was able to obtain reliable statistics of global rain every hour rapidly. As a compromise between the USA and Japan, the 35 degrees was decided upon. Under this angle, the TRMM observes at about 37 degrees on the ground, which covers the north of Sendai city and covers the Bai-u. Thus the 35-degree angle was adopted.
[Slide 49]
The phrase 'international cooperation' sounds nice, but it is not easy to make it a reality.
[Slide 50]
First, the systems of the two countries are very different, for example the starts of fiscal years are on opposite sides of a year. Also, in terms of the stage for conducting a space project, the USA has Phase A, B, and C/D, whereas Japan has the Research, Development Research, and Development Phases. At first glance, these two are seen to be similar, but in fact the actual contents of the two countries' phases are almost completely different. In Japan, for example, once something is approved in the Development Research Phase, all the rest to the launch could be guaranteed, but in the USA the process is different. In Japan the barrier to reach to the phase is very high, and so on. The each side is difficult to understand or even to know the invisible differences in another side that causes a credibility gap and various troubles.
There are many other differences from procedures to culture. We realized the personal trust or even friendship to each other, which had been constructed through the cooperation, was the most important and worked. While under adverse circumstances, the two sides are willing to cooperate with each other. However, when things change and start to run smoothly, and when various people come into a big job like the space projects, discord and problems must begin to arise. In spite of many troublesome things, the main reason of our success is that we have been able to avoid serious consequences.
[Slide 51]
Now, thinking back to our TRMM project, from the stand point of science and technology the achievement is that the success to measure global rainfall for the first time in the world. I think it's very valuable for Japan that this was the first space project which researchers proposed and established.
Since the TRMM was successfully launched, I have always been asking young people to use the data fully and well, and get excellent results by using the best of these TRMM data. Last week, the International Symposium commemorating the 5th Anniversary of the successful launch of the TRMM Satellite was held at Osaka Prefecture University, where Dr. Okamoto works.
I found that many and excellent results are obtained far more than I expected. I was especially impressed that young researchers are not only contributing results in global precipitation but also finding and proposing new ideas, which may change or even give an impact to the research in this area. I was very glad to hear of the many achievements that will change the quality of research in this region.
Now the time is up, so I'll stop here.
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