ESA - CryoSat - CryoSat-2 installed in launch silo

CryoSat at a glance

An Earth Explorer CryoSat: an icy mission Earth’s changing ice Facts and figures

About the satellite

Platform Instruments

About the launch

Launch site Launcher After launch

Meet the team

Richard Francis - Project Manager Tommaso Parrinello - Mission Manager Duncan Wingham, Lead Investigator Klaus Köble, EADS Astrium Project Manager Mark Drinkwater, Mission Scientist Bill Simpson, Launch Campaign Manager Nic Mardle, Spacecraft Operations Manager Laurent Rey, Thales Alenia Space SIRAL Project Manager Malcolm Davidson, Validation Manager

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CryoSat-2 installed in launch silo

1 April 2010

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CryoSat-2 will be launched by a Dnepr – a converted SS-18 intercontinental ballistic missile. Dnepr is a three-stage vehicle. The overall length is 34 m, and the overall diameter is 3 m. The lift-off mass of the rocket is 211 t.

Credits: ESA /P.Carril

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The 'crocodile' making its way to the launch silo at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The crocodile carries the space head module that encapsulates the CryoSat-2 satellite. The vehicle is equipped with a container that is positioned vertically and opens like 'jaws', hence the name 'crocodile', to allow the space head module to be loaded.

Credits: ESA/W.Simpson

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ESA’s Earth Explorer CryoSat mission is dedicated to precise monitoring of changes in the thickness of marine ice floating in the polar oceans and variations in the thickness of the vast ice sheets that blanket Greenland and Antarctica.

Credits: ESA/AOES Medialab

CryoSat