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 practically all water on Earth’s floor for the primary time and assist scientists examine its influence on Earth’s local weather.

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

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 will likely be put into orbit from Vandenberg House Power Base in California atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

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

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

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

The stakes are excessive. Whereas the influence of main ocean currents such because the Gulf Stream is understood, 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 remark of coastal erosion and assist observe how recent 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 parts that have an effect on water ranges reminiscent of tides and the sun”.

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

It is going to monitor water levels, floor areas and portions at greater than 20 million lakes with shores of greater than 250 meters. Your complete size of rivers greater than 100 meters large can even be noticed.

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

Flying the satellite to Vandenberg from the Thales Alenia House (TAS) website 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 simply too small,” stated TAS undertaking chief Christophe Duplay.

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

And that meant relying on NASA to have the US air power provide certainly one of 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 about to turn into the primary satellite to make a managed re-entry into Earth’s ambiance, lowering the quantity of space particles, according to the French space operations act.

Almost 80 % of the 400 kilos (880 kilos) of onboard gasoline will likely be used to that finish.

© 2022 AFP