Page 2 - Spec Tech Vol 1 Issue 11
P. 2
SpaceX launches NASA satellite to study
world's water, sticks rocket landing
Image Credit: SpaceX
The first satellite specifically designed to contributions from the Canadian and U.K.
conduct a global survey of Earth's surface space agencies. It was included as a
water has taken to the skies. recommended mission in the 2007 U.S.
National Research Council Decadal Survey.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the
Surface Water and Ocean Topography The satellite is designed to study changes in
(SWOT) satellite before dawn on Wednesday global water levels and provide, in
(Dec. 16) from Space Launch Complex-4E unprecedented detail, 3D volumetric data for
at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Earth's oceans and millions of lakes and
California. rivers across 90% of the globe every 21 days.
SWOT's primary instruments are its nadir
Liftoff occurred at 6:46 a.m. EST (1146 GMT;
3:46 a.m. local California time), lightning up altimeter and the Ka-band Radar
the early-morning sky as the Falcon 9 carried Interferometer, or KaRIn for short. KaRIn
the SWOT payload toward a consists of two antennas separated across a
non-sun-synchronous orbit with a final altitude 33-foot-long (10 meters) boom, which
of 553 miles (857 kilometers). The rocket's independently receive readings the satellite
first stage booster returned to Vandenberg takes of Earth's surface. Using the satellite's
and successfully touched down at the facility's position data and subsequent phase
Landing Zone-4, just a quarter-mile (0.4 differences in signal reception, SWOT is
kilometers) downrange from the launch pad, capable of measuring water elevations with a
about 7.5 minutes after liftoff. SWOT will be mere 0.4-inch (1 centimeter) margin of
deployed into low Earth orbit about 52 error.
minutes after launch. In a prelaunch press briefing on Wednesday
(Dec. 14), NASA Earth Science Division
"What a spectacular launch," said Nadya
Vinogradova Shiffer, NASA's director of ocean Director Karen St. Germain explained the
physics, just after launch. "Welcome to the era upgrade that SWOT will bring to orbit.
of SWOT." "We've been doing satellite altimetry
measuring sea surface height for 30 years,
SWOT was developed by NASA and the
French Space Agency (CNES), with and that's a big part of the record we rely on
Space Explorer 2022 2
