ESA - Living Planet Programme - CryoSat takes significant step towards final completion

ESA's Living Planet Programme

About ESA's Living Planet Programme Earth Explorers Campaigns

Multimedia

Living Planet images Living Planet videos Help

Services

Calendar Subscribe RSS feeds

Article Images

CryoSat takes significant step towards final completion

31 July 2003

Back to article

Download:

HI-RES JPEG (Size: 236 kb)

Artist's impression of CryoSat in orbit over southern Greenland ice sheet.

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/AOES Medialab

Back to article

CryoSat satellite design. View highlights the solar panel coated 'roof' to the platform, together with the distinctive twin antennas of the SIRAL radar altimeter instrument, along with the DORIS antenna and X- and S-band telemetry antennas.

Back to article

Photograph showing the CryoSat satellite platform being constructed in the spacecraft integration facility at Astrium GmbH, Friedrichshafen, Germany.

Back to article

The X-band radar sub-system undergoing testing in the prime-contractor's facility

CryoSat validation highlights the challenges of working in the Arctic