ROSA

Radio Occultation Sounder of the Atmosphere

Satellites

OceanSat-2 and SAC-D

Status

Close to launch - To be utilised in the period 2008 to ~ 2015

Mission

Temperature/humidity sounding with highest vertical resolution, space weather

Instrument type

GPS receiver measuring the phase delay due to refraction during occultation between GPS and LEO

Scanning technique

Limb scanning from 700 km to close-to-surface by time sampling – Azimuth: 90° sectors fore- and aft-

Coverage/cycle

About 500 soundings/day – Average spacing 1000 km – Global coverage (300 km spacing) in 10 days

Resolution

About 300 km horizontal, 0.5 km vertical

Resources

Mass: 17 kg - Power: 38 W - Data rate: … kbps