The European Space Agency’s (ESA) CryoSat-2 earth ice observing satellite has successfully launched atop a Dnepr rocket.
CryoSat-2 will study climate change by measuring variations in the thickness of ice sheets across Antarctica and Greenland, and relatively thin polar sea-ice cover for a period of three years.
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The ice observer craft carries a sophisticated SAR / interferometric radar altimeter (SIRAL) for the mission.
The satellite, built by an Astrium-led consortium, has been positioned in a polar orbit, reaching latitudes of 88°.
The position is closer to the poles than earlier earth observation satellites, enabling it to cover an additional area of about 4.6 million square kilometers, helping to further our understanding of earth ice and climate.
The satellite is the third ESA earth explorer satellite to be placed into orbit, after the gravity field and steady-state ocean circulation explorer (GOCE) mission, and the soil moisture and ocean salinity (SMOS) mission.
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By GlobalDataCryosat-2 was rebuilt after the initial Cryosat was lost to a launch failure in 2005.
