The Development of the TRMM Mission and the Reasons for its Scientific Success

A short history of the development of the TRMM mission will be described focusing on the development of the science requirements, the close collaboration between the U.S. and Japan, and the technological and scientific success of the mission. The initial TRMM science workshop was held in 1986 and with the science requirements derived from that start a set of instruments were developed to measure tropical precipitation for the first mission with that parameter as the principal focus. Implementation of the mission concept was carried out by through close cooperation between U.S. and Japanese scientists, engineers and managers. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) has now completed three years in orbit. A short summary of research highlights will be presented and these successes will be traced back to the scientific and programmatic approaches used to develop and manage the mission. Plans for a Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) based on the successful approach used for TRMM will also be outlined.