Lightweight rainfall radiometer STAR aircraft sensor

The X-Band Lightweight Rainfall Radiometer using synthetic thinned aperture radiometer technology (LRR-X STAR) is an aircraft microwave sensor that is jointly under development by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Michigan. It operates at 10.7 GHz with 86+ simultaneous 2.1° HPBW antenna beams distributed over a ± 45° cross track field of view to permit pushboom imaging. It is intended to address several pressing issues related to the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission, for which it is a science and technology testbed instrument. In terms of technology readiness, LRR-STAR will evaluate and validate the design approaches being taken by each of its critical subsystems. At the system level, it will validate the calibration methodology used to produce Level 1 brightness temperature imagery. All electrical, mechanical and thermal subsystems of the LRR-STAR are currently in development and several key subsystems have had successful prototype fabrication and laboratory testing. An overview of the instrument design is presented, together with a status report on the hardware development.