Media Invited to Final Prelaunch Exhibition of New Weather Satellite

News and social media members have an opportunity to get an up-close look at NASA’s Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission’s Core Observatory satellite Tuesday, Oct. 8, at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., in its final public appearance.

Reporters will meet at Goddard’s Visitor Center at 10 a.m. EDT, where they can speak with scientists and view a new short film from Science on a Sphere called Water Falls. After the film, they will tour the clean room and speak with engineers who built the satellite.

GPM, scheduled for shipment to its launch site at Tanegashima Space Center in Japan after this event, is an international satellite mission led by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency that will provide next-generation observations of rain and snow worldwide every three hours.

Reporters also will have the opportunity to speak with scientists at Goddard’s 15-screen hyperwall to discuss the applications of GPM data, including how rainfall data fit into climate models and contribute to understanding the bigger Earth system. All speakers will be available for interviews.

GPM is the first of four NASA missions launching in 2014 to observe Earth. It will provide unprecedented 3-D views of hurricanes, snowstorms, even light rain, and its data will contribute to the monitoring and forecasting of weather events such as droughts, floods and hurricanes. In addition, its long-term record of rainfall data will aid scientists in their studies of climate change.

To attend, foreign journalists must register by contacting Ellen Gray at 301-286-1950 or ellen.t.gray@nasa.gov by Wednesday, Sept. 25. Journalists who are U.S. citizens should register by Friday, Oct. 4.

NASA also is inviting 30 social media users to apply for credentials to attend the media day. Registration for U.S. citizens active on social media begins Wednesday, Sept. 11 and closes Monday, Sept. 30. Accreditation applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis. To apply, visit:
http://go.nasa.gov/17Qosbd

For more information about the GPM mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/gpm