Satellites Launched Atop SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket Will Boost Hurricane Forecasts

The satellites are part of a NOAA program called the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC). The mission is known as COSMIC-2 because it is the second iteration of the system.

The first COSMIC satellites were launched into orbit near the north and south poles in 2006. The new version will orbit Earth near the equator, NOAA said in a press release, and will take measurements of the tropics and subtropics, where the warm waters are a breeding ground for tropical weather.

"At these low latitudes of the tropics and subtropics, water temperatures are very warm, generally above 80 degrees for much of the year, which is a key ingredient for tropical storm and hurricane formation," weather.com meteorologist Brian Donegan explained.

They'll also be at a lower orbit, which will make it easier for them to transmit data.

"#COSMIC2 helps us see and measure the moisture inside tropical storms," Jim Yoe, chief administrator for NOAA's Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation, said Monday during a question-and-answer session on Twitter. "This gives us more and better information about the internal energy that can strengthen or weaken a hurricane."

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The data they collect can be downloaded by weather stations along the equator in less than 30 minutes, and then handed over to the World Meteorological Organization’s Global Transmission System, which supports weather agencies and and prediction centers worldwide.

“COSMIC-2 will gather information about the vertical temperature and humidity of the atmosphere in the tropics, which holds most of the moisture that drives global weather patterns,” National Weather Service Director Louis Uccellini said. “The high quality and large number of observations from the COSMIC-2 data stream will improve the accuracy of our weather forecast model outputs for our national and global areas of responsibility."

NOAA says that, in turn, will speed up the process of watches and warnings for hurricanes, storms and other extreme weather.

"Thirty-minute #COSMIC2 data delivery is vital because space weather evolves so quickly," Yoe said. "We use this to protect communications, power and navigation infrastructure."

Space.com reported that the six satellites cost about $75 million. They launched on SpaceX's third Falcon Heavy mission.

It was the first time a Falcon Heavy launched at night, and the rocket carried several other payloads, including the ashes of more than 100 human remains, courtesy of a private company that offers to memorialize the dead by blasting them into space.

SpaceX plans landed two of the rocket's boosters on land. A third one crashed during an attempted landing on a ship offshore. Thousands of people flooded Florida's Space Coast to view the landmark launch.