NASA’s video, “GPM’s Journey to Japan,” highlights the unique shipment of the Global Precipitation Measurement mission’s Core Observatory by air, land, and sea. Built at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. – home to a Class 10,000 cleanroom – the GPM spacecraft travelled roughly 7,300 miles to its launch site at Tanegashima Space Center on Tanegashima Island, Japan, where it is scheduled for liftoff on Feb. 27, 2014, at 1:07 p.m. EST.
GPM’s Core Observatory is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to study rainfall and snowfall around the globe, including the type of weather and storms that the Core Observatory previewed on its trans-Pacific journey.
The GPM has undergone final inspections and performance tests in the cleanroom at Tanegashima Space Center, to ensure that it’s ready for launch.
[video:http://youtu.be/uJvqIBxzDFI]Further reading: “GPM’s Cleanroom Mechanics“
