Background on the COSMIC Experiment

The Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC), is a joint U.S.-Taiwan project. It will consist of six spacecraft planned to be launched in the spring of 2005 and expected to last for 5 years. Each spacecraft will carry a GPS receiver designed at JPL. The constellation is expected to capture 2000-2500 occultations per day. The spacecraft will start at an initial orbit near 400 km above the Earth's surface, and will gradually approach the final 800 km orbit.

Taiwan contributes with the constellation and a satellite operations control center. Data Analysis and Archiving will be provided by the CDAAC in Boulder Colorado, and the GENESIS web site at JPL. A global fiducial network built upon existing NASA and international fiducial networks will also be a part of the project. The project scientist for the US side of the partnership is C. Rocken at UCAR. JPL will be a processing center for COSMIC data.