Franco-US satellite set for unprecedented survey of Earth’s water

A Franco-US satellite is due for launch this week on a mission to survey with unprecedented accuracy almost all water on Earth’s floor for the primary time and assist scientists examine its affect on Earth’s local weather.

For NASA and France’s space company CNES, which have labored collectively within the subject for 30 years, it is a landmark scientific mission with a billion greenback price range.

French President Emmanuel Macron went to NASA’s Washington headquarters on the finish of November alongside US Vice President Kamala Harris.

He highlighted the liftoff—scheduled for early Thursday on the US west coast—of the Floor Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission to observe the degrees of oceans, lakes and rivers, together with in remote locations.

Its predecessor, TOPEX/Poseidon, launched in 1992, was additionally a Franco-US three way partnership that measured ocean surface to an accuracy of 4.2 centimeters (1.7 inches).

It aided the forecast of the 1997-1998 El Nino climate phenomenon and improved understanding of ocean circulation and its impact on global climate.

The two.2-ton SWOT mission can be put into orbit from Vandenberg Area Drive Base in California atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

The satellite’s major payload is an revolutionary instrument to measure the peak of water referred to as KaRin, or Ka-band radar interferometer. Its two antennas, separated by a giant increase, create paralleled swaths of information.

“We will get ten instances higher decision than with present applied sciences to measure sea-surface peak and perceive the ocean fronts and eddies that assist form local weather,” stated NASA Earth Science Division Director Karen St. Germain.

“It is like taking a look at a automobile quantity plate from space when earlier than we may solely see a avenue,” added Thierry Lafon, SWOT mission chief on the CNES.

The stakes are excessive. Whereas the affect of main ocean currents such because the Gulf Stream is thought, extra native flows and eddies masking dozens of kilometers stay extra of a thriller.

However they too have an effect on sea water floor temperatures and heat transfer in addition to the absorption by the oceans of carbon dioxide from the ambiance.

SWOT will enhance climate and local weather modeling, the commentary of coastal erosion and assist observe how contemporary and saltwater our bodies change over time.

Particles-free finish of life

With an “optimum” orbit of 890 kilometers (about 550 miles) above Earth, Lafon stated SWOT will “soak up all of the elements that have an effect on water ranges reminiscent of tides and the sun”.

NASA says SWOT will survey almost all water on Earth’s floor for the primary time.

It would monitor water levels, floor areas and portions at greater than 20 million lakes with shores of greater than 250 meters. The complete size of rivers greater than 100 meters broad may also be noticed.

Water administration, flood and drought prevention can be improved, stated Lafon.

Flying the satellite to Vandenberg from the Thales Alenia Area (TAS) web site in Cannes, southern France, proved a headache.

“As a result of battle in Ukraine, there have been no extra Antonov 124s accessible and the 747 cargo is just too small,” stated TAS mission chief Christophe Duplay.

“We determined to ask the USAF to offer one in all its C-5 Galaxies.”

And that meant relying on NASA to have the US air pressure provide one in all its uncommon big plane to ship the massive payload.

SWOT has an estimated three-year lifetime—though Lafon stated “nothing precludes the mission to final 5 to eight years”—and is ready to grow to be the primary satellite to make a managed re-entry into Earth’s ambiance, lowering the quantity of space particles, consistent with the French space operations act.

Almost 80 p.c of the 400 kilos (880 kilos) of onboard gas can be used to that finish.

© 2022 AFP