NASA Launches a Mission to Survey Earth’s Water

SWOT will be providing information about sea level along the coast. This will fill in observational gaps that aren’t covered by tide gauges and other instruments measuring sea surface height. These data will help researchers track sea level rise over time and directly affect coastal communities.

NASA’s commitment to collaboration with other agencies worldwide to study Earth’s climate and environment has made this mission possible. CNES and NASA have enjoyed a long-standing relationship, which began in 1980 to monitor Earth’s oceans. With the launch of the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite, 1992, this collaboration was the first to use a space-based instrument called an altimeter to study sea levels.

“This mission is the continuation of 30 years of collaboration NASA and CNES altimetry,” Caroline Laurent, CNES Orbital System and Applications director. It is a demonstration of international cooperation through a groundbreaking mission that will allow us to better understand climate change and its impacts around the globe.

Researchers, policymakers, resource managers, and other stakeholders will be able to better plan and assess SWOT measurements, which can help them with planning for floods and droughts. Researchers can use SWOT measurements to provide information about where the water is coming from and going. This will help improve flood projections for rivers, and monitor drought effects on lakes or reservoirs.

“SWOT will provide vital data, given the urgent challenges presented by climate change, sea level rise,” Laurie Leshin (director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL), said. JPL created the KaRIn instrument, and oversees the U.S. part of the mission. The result of many years of collaboration, innovation and commitment, SWOT will fill in the gaps in our knowledge. We are excited to get the SWOT science started.”

Mission Information

The U.S. portion of the project is led by JPL, which is managed by Caltech Pasadena, California. NASA will provide the KaRIn instrument and a GPS science receiver, laser retroreflector, two-beam microwave radiometer and other operations for the flight system payload. CNES provides the Doppler Orbitography Integrated by Satellite system (DORIS), the dual frequency Poseidon Altimeter (developed jointly by Thales Alenia Space), and the KaRIn radiofrequency subsystem (together Thales Alenia Space with support from UK Space Agency), as well as the satellite platform and ground control segment. The KaRIn high power transmitter assembly is provided by CSA. NASA provides the launch vehicle. The agency’s Launch Services Program, which is based at Kennedy Space Center manages the associated launch services.