1997: NASA, along the National Space Development Agency of Japan, launched the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. TRMM houses five separate instruments including the first-ever precipitation radar to fly in space. Designed to help our understanding of the role that the water cycle plays in the current climate system, TRMM is providing much-needed data on rainfall and the associated heat released during the condensation-precipitation process in the tropics and sub-tropics.