FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC Overview
FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC (F3C) is a joint Taiwan/US science mission for weather, climate, space weather, and geodetic research.
The F3C mission was successfully launched on 14 April 2006 (15 April 2006, Taiwan time). Six identical micro satellites,
each carrying an advanced GPS radio occultation (RO) receiver, a Tiny Ionospheric Photometer (TIP), and a Tri-Band Beacon
(TBB) were deployed. The COSMIC payload science data are routinely downloaded every orbit via two NOAA Telemetry, Tracking,
and Command Systems (TT&C)stations (in Alaska and Norway) and one NSF/NASA station (in McMurdo, Antarctica); they are then
transferred to the COSMIC Data Analysis and Archival Center (CDAAC) at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
(UCAR) in Boulder. CDAAC currently processes the COSMIC science data in near real time: ninety percent of the RO profiles
are delivered to operational weather centers within three hours of observation. CDAAC also reprocesses data in a more
accurate post-processed mode (within six weeks of observation) for COSMIC as well as other missions including GPS/MET,
C/NOFS, CHAMP, SAC-C, TerraSAR-X, GRACE, and Metop/GRAS.
As COSMIC enters its sixth year of operation, some spacecraft have started to show degradation. To date, five out of the
six satellites are still operating and providing data. COSMIC is currently providing between 1,000-1,500 daily RO profiles
in the neutral atmosphere and 1,000-1,500 daily electron density profiles and total electron content arcs. Since launch,
the COSMIC mission has provided over three million GPS radio occultation atmospheric profiles to support science and
operational applications. The data have already demonstrated their value for operational weather forecasting, hurricane
forecasting, and investigations of the atmospheric boundary layer. The data have been used extensively to test ionospheric
models, and their use in operational space weather models is under development. COSMIC GPS RO data also have the potential
to be of great benefit to climate studies due to their demonstrated high precision and global and diurnal sampling coverage.
At the AMS Annual Meeting on 23rd January 2012, the COSMIC Interagency Working Group committed their support for the
continued operation of the COSMIC mission for another four years.
COSMIC Sponsors
