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Launch of CryoSat-2 ice satellite successful | CryoSat-2 ice satellite, Europe's first mission aimed at studying the Earth's ice, has been successfully launched from Kazakhstan. From its polar
orbit, CryoSat-2 will send back data leading to new insights into how ice is responding
to climate change and the role it plays in our 'Earth system'. The CryoSat-2 satellite
was launched on April 8 at 15:57 CEST (13:57 UTC) on a Dnepr rocket provided by
the International Space Company Kosmotras from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The signal confirming that it had separated from the launcher came 17 minutes
later from the Malindi ground station in Kenya. CryoSat-2 replaces the original
CryoSat satellite that was lost in 2005 owing to a launch failure. The mission
objectives, however, remain the same: to measure changes in the thickness of the
vast ice sheets that overlie Antarctica and Greenland, as well as variations in
the thickness of the relatively thin ice floating in the polar oceans. Volker
Liebig, ESA's Director of Earth Observation Programmes, said: "We know from our
radar satellites that sea ice extent is diminishing, but there is still an urgent
need to understand how the volume of ice is changing. "To make these calculations,
scientists also need information on ice thickness, which is exactly what our new
CryoSat satellite will provide. We are now very much looking forward to receiving
the first data from the mission." The launch of CryoSat-2 marks a significant
achievement for ESA's Earth observation programme and brings to three the number
of its Earth Explorer satellites placed in orbit, all having been launched within
a little over 12 months. CryoSat-2 follows on from the Gravity field and steady-state
Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) mission, launched in March 2009, and the Soil
Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission, launched last November. Earth Explorers
are launched in direct response to issues identified by the scientific community
and aim to improve our understanding of how the Earth system works and the effect
that human activity is having on natural processes. In response to this need,
CryoSat-2 is carrying the first radar altimeter of its kind to overcome the difficulties
of measuring icy surfaces. Now that CryoSat-2 is safely in orbit, the Mission
Control Team at ESA's European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany is
busy with the critical 'Launch and Early Operations Phase'. |
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