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What will CryoSat find?   CryoSat in the tower atop its Rockot, waiting for launch "Summer Arctic sea ice is shrinking – but is it thinning?"  Chnages in Arctic sea ice cover, 1979 to 2003(photos ACIA, 'Impacts of a Warming Arctic: Arctic Climate Impact Assessment.' Cambridge University Press, 2004. Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, 2004)  Dr. Seymour Laxon of the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM) at University College London  CryoSat will be launched on a Rockot vehicle from Plesetsk in Russia. Rockot is based on the SS-19 intercontinental ballistic missile, with a versatile third stage added to the 2-stage missile booster. Recently commercialised, Rockot has already launched several satellites and the SS-19 has had over 150 test firings. Opening a new window on the Poles  Ice cover in the Antarctic and Arctic polar regions. It represents summer in the Arctic and winter in Antarctica. "We can add ice thickness to our models"  The research vessel Aranda was used as the base during the campaign in the Baltic. The EM-bird measurements were made from a helicopter. A typical flight lasted three hours.  Artist's impression of CryoSat in orbit. The launch of the CryoSat spacecraft was unfortunately aborted on 8 October 2005 due to a malfunction of its Rockot launcher, which resulted in the total loss of the spacecraft.
At the latest meeting of the European Space Agency's Earth Observation Programme Board, which took place at ESA’s Headquarters in Paris on 23 and 24 February 2006, ESA received the green light from its Member States to build and launch a CryoSat recovery mission, CryoSat-2. Is Antarctic land ice growing or shrinking?  The Concordia Station is a scientific base built in Antarctica by the French Polar Institute (IPEV) and the Italian Antarctic Programme (PNRA) Determining CryoSat's orbit will improve its results  The DORIS radio receiver placed aboard CryoSat  CryoSat's main instrument is the twin-radar-antenna SIRAL instrument, which has been designed to measure the thickness of sea ice and land ice sheet margins. Release date: 15 December 2005 |