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Scientists complete experiments in the Arctic before CryoSat launch

20 October 2004

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Edge of the ice sheet near Ilulisat, Greenland, where ice flowing from the interior of the ice sheet to the coast, breaks off and forms ice bergs.

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Artist's impression of CryoSat.

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.

Credits: ESA/P.Carril

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Typical living quarters for the scientists on the ice sheet during the August-September 2004 CryoVex campaign. Some of the participants spend more than a month living in these tents.

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Scientists drilling ice cores out on the ice sheet. Once the cores are extracted they are carefully logged, described and weighed to determine their physical properties.

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One of the weather stations that were installed on the Devon ice-cap in northern Canada. Scientists used skidoos to travel across the ice.

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The scientific plane with ESA's airborne radar altimeter ASIRAS and the laser alimeter on board, passing directly over one of the UK camps on the Greenland ice sheet. The scientists are standing around a corner reflector, a metal construction which is used to calibrate and ensure maximum accuracy of the radar data collected by the plane.

Norway acknowledges CryoSat as essential to help quantify our changing climate Primary instrument is delivered for ESA's CryoSat mission Scientists confront the challenges of the Arctic in support of ESA's ice mission ASIRAS, a new ESA airborne instrument sees ice for the first time