Jun 20 2008
From The Space Library
The Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason-2 satellite launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a Delta-2 rocket at 07:46 (UT). The 510-kilogram (1,124.36-pound) craft was a joint mission of the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT); the French space agency (Centre National d’Études Spatiales]]—CNES); the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); and NASA. EUMETSAT’s aim was to continue the data-collection mission that NASA and CNES had begun in 1992 with their ocean topography experiment, the TOPEX/Poseidon mission, and had continued with the 2001 launch of Jason 1. Jason 2 had five instruments—improved versions of those aboard Jason 1— that could chart the topography of the ocean’s surface, the speed and direction of the ocean’s current, and the amount of solar energy the ocean stores. Scientists hoped to use these measurements to track global climate change, to hone their predictions of hurricane intensity, and to improve their understanding of currents, eddies, and tides. The project partners had scheduled Jason 2 to fly in tandem with Jason 1 for approximately six months, while engineers calibrated Jason 2’s instruments. Afterwards, the two spacecraft would travel in separate orbits, doubling the global satellite coverage.
Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 656, 1 July 2008, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx656.html (accessed 24 April 2011); NASA, “NASA Launches Ocean Satellite To Keep a Weather, Climate Eye Open,” news release 08-154, 20 June 2008, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/jun/HQ_08154_OSTM-Jason-2_Launch.html (accessed 21 April 2011).
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