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ESA's ice mission delivers first data

13 April 2010

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CryoSat's radar altimeter is able to measure the freeboard of sea ice, which is the height of ice protruding above the water. From the freeboard, the ice thickness can be derived.

Credits: ESA/AOES Medialab

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Europe's first mission dedicated to studying the Earth’s ice was launched on 8 April 2010. 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'.

CryoSat-2 was launched 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.

Credits: ESA - S. Corvaja, 2010

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Richard Francis, ESA's CryoSat-2 Project Manager (left), Klaus Köble, CryoSat-2 Project Manager from EADS Astrium (middle) and Pier Paolo Emanuelli, ESA's Flight Director (right) give the 'thumbs up' after the SIRAL instrument was switched on and delivering its first data on 11 April.

Credits: ESA/J. Mai http://www.juergenmai.com

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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

CryoSat-2 launch sequence replay

Webcast: Climate science featured at CryoSat-2 launch event