N° 3–2010: CryoSat to observe Earth's ice cover

ESA's ice mission satellite CryoSat will be placed into orbit 700 km above Earth by a Russian Dnepr rocket to be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Lift-off is scheduled to take place at 14:57 CET (13:57 UTC) on Thursday 25 February 2010. The launcher is operated by the international space company Kosmotras.

CryoSat will be the third of ESA's Earth Explorer satellites in orbit, following on from GOCE (launched in March 2009) and SMOS (launched in November 2009). It was originally due to be the first in the Earth Explorer series, but the first satellite was lost as a result of a launcher failure in October 2005. The 700 kg CryoSat spacecraft –whose name comes from the Greek kruos meaning icy cold–carries the first all-weather microwave radar altimeter. The instrument has been optimised for determining changes in the thickness of both floating sea ice, which can be up to several metres, and polar land ice sheets, which in Antarctica can be up to five kilometres. The mission will deliver data on the rate of change of the ice thickness accurate to within one centimetre.

Recent record-lows in the extent of summer Arctic sea-ice cover demonstrate that significant changes are occurring in the polar regions. Ice cover has been mapped from space for many years by satellites such as Envisat. But to understand more about how climate change is affecting these sensitive regions, there is also an urgent need to determine how ice thickness is changing. Data from CryoSat will lead to a better understanding of the dynamics of ice mass, provide the scientific community with valuable information on this variable and contribute to climate change studies.

On the launch day, ESA will be opening a European Press Centre at its European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, from 10:00 hrs to 16:30 hrs, hosting a launch event from 11:30 to 16:00 hrs.

A live televised transmission of the launch will provide pictures from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and from Mission Control at ESA/ESOC in Darmstadt for broadcasters (further details of TV transmission at http://television.esa.int).

ESA senior management and programme specialists will be on hand to explain the mission and give interviews.

Media representatives wishing to cover this event from ESA/ESOC or watch the launch live from another ESA establishment are requested to fill in the attached accreditation form and fax it back to one of the numbers provided below.

Any change in the launch date will be announced on our answering machine at +49 (0)6151 90 2609 or on the CryoSat website at www.esa.int/cryosat.

For further information, please contact:

ESA Media Relations Office

Communication Department

Tel: + 33 1 5369 7299

Fax: + 33 1 5369 7690

Nicola Gebers

ESA/ESOC Communication Office

Tel. +49 (0)6151 90 2266

Fax +49 (0)6151 90 2961

Email: Nicola.Gebers@esa.int

 

CryoSat launch

Thursday 25 February 2010

First name: ___________________ Surname:____________________

Media organisation:__________________________________________

Address:____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

Tel:________________________ Fax:___________________________

Mobile:_____________________ Email:________________________

I shall be attending the CryoSat launch event at the following location:

[ ] Germany

Location: ESA/ESOC

Address: Robert Bosch Strasse 5, Darmstadt, Germany

Opening hours: 10:00 – 16:30

Contact: Jocelyne Landeau-Constantin, Tel: +49.6151.902.696, Fax: +49.6151.902.961

[ ] Italy

Location: ESA/ESRIN

Address: Via Galileo Galilei, Frascati (Rome), Italy

Opening hours: 11:00 – 16:30

Contact: Dieter Isakeit, Tel. +39 06 94180 950, Fax +39 06 94180 952

[ ] The Netherlands

Location: Space Expo, ESA/ESTEC's visitor centre

Address: Keplerlaan 3, Noordwijk

Opening hours: 14:00 – 16:30

Contact: Pal Hvistendahl, Tel. + 31 71 565 3006, Fax + 31 71 565 5728

[ ] Spain

Location: ESA/ESAC

Address: Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n Urbanización Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid

Opening hours: 14:00 – 16:30

Contact: ESAC Communication Office, Tel + 34 91 813 13 59, Fax: + 34 91 813 12 19

 

For further information:

ESA - Media Relations Office

Tel: +33.(0)1.5369.7299

Fax: +33.(0)1.5369.7690