On March 9, the international Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite’s main scientific instrument – the Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn) – returned to regular commissioning activities.
KaRIn was shut off in late January. Since then, the team has worked to analyze the situation and developed a plan to restore operations utilizing a backup KaRIn power unit. The backup unit was chosen to expedite the restoration of operations and to minimize overall risk to the mission.
The mission continues to monitor KaRIn, as well as overall operations, as it progresses with commissioning, calibration, and validation activities to ensure the performance of SWOT’s systems and science instruments in preparation for the planned start of science operations in July 2023.
After launching in December 2022, the international Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission started commissioning activities – the six-month checkout period before the scientific mission begins. Commissioning has included turning on all the science instruments, among them the main science instrument, the Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn), which engineers fully powered on in mid-January 2023. They received performance information, but in late January one of the instrument’s subsystems – the high-power amplifier – was unexpectedly shut down.
Engineers are working systematically to understand the situation and to restore operations, performing diagnostics and working with a test bed that simulates the KaRIn instrument on Earth. Once the KaRIn instrument is up and running again, the mission will continue with its commissioning and calibration activities – planned March through June – to ensure data accuracy in preparation for the beginning of science operations in July 2023.
Launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, SWOT is a collaboration between NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales, with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency and the UK Space Agency. SWOT will take high-resolution measurements of the height of water in the world’s oceans and freshwater bodies. It will provide insight into the ocean’s role in climate change and help communities monitor and plan for changes in water resources and the effects of rising seas.
The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) spacecraft is moved into a transport container inside the Astrotech facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Nov. 18, 2022. Photo credit: USSF 30th Space Wing/Chris Okula
NASA, the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales, and SpaceX are now targeting 3:46 a.m. PST Thursday, Dec.15, for the launch of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite. The new date allows for additional time to complete prelaunch processing and checkouts of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
SWOT will be NASA’s first global survey of nearly all water on Earth’s surface. Scientists plan to use its observations to better understand the global water cycle, furnish insight into the ocean’s role in how climate change unfolds, and provide a global inventory of water resources.
The SWOT mission is a collaborative effort between NASA and the French space agency with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency and the UK Space Agency.
SWOT will launch from Space Launch Complex-4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Workers in a clean room in Cannes, France, load the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite into a container in preparation for shipping the spacecraft to the U.S. Photo credit: CNES/Thales Alenia Space
NASA, the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), and SpaceX are now targeting Monday, Dec. 12, for the launch of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch SWOT from Space Launch Complex-4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
After considering the schedule for completion of the satellite build, transportation of the SWOT spacecraft from France to Vandenberg , and carrying out the remaining launch campaign tasks, the team determined that additional time was needed to conduct these activities and ready the satellite for launch.
SWOT is the first satellite mission that will survey nearly all water on Earth’s surface. Its instruments will measure the height of water in the planet’s lakes, rivers, reservoirs, and the ocean in higher definition than ever before. This will help to inform water equity and water management decisions, provide new insights into Earth’s water and energy cycle, and help prepare communities for rising seas and changing coastlines in a warming climate.
NASA’s Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite arrives from France aboard a U.S. Air Force C-5 Galaxy aircraft at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, on Oct. 16, 2022. Photo credit: USSF 30th Space Wing/Carlos Vela
The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite arrived at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, where teams will begin final preparations for the spacecraft’s launch in December on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Center-4 East.
SWOT is the first satellite mission that will observe nearly all water on Earth’s surface, measuring the height of water in the planet’s lakes, rivers, reservoirs, and the ocean. SWOT’s instruments will be able to resolve ocean features like currents and eddies less than 60 miles (100 kilometers) across, lakes and reservoirs larger than 15 acres (6 hectares), and rivers wider than 330 feet (100 meters) across.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California built the scientific payload. In June 2021, JPL shipped the payload to France, where a multinational team integrated the Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn) and other finely tuned instruments with the satellite bus.
On Oct. 16, SWOT arrived at Vandenberg from France aboard a U.S. Air Force C-5 Galaxy aircraft and moved to the Astrotech Space Operations facility to begin launch processing. In the coming weeks, SWOT will undergo many steps in preparation for liftoff. Teams must encapsulate the satellite in a protective payload fairing, mate it to the rocket, and transport it to the launch pad before it’s ready to launch into space.
Once in orbit, SWOT will collect data from the ocean, helping researchers better understand how seawater absorbs atmospheric heat and carbon, a process that affects global temperatures and climate change. This data will also help researchers better understand coastal sea levels and, ultimately, how sea surface height will interact with a changing climate to affect things like storm surges.
SWOT will also provide the first comprehensive global survey of freshwater lakes, rivers, and reservoirs from space. The satellite will measure the height of the water in these water bodies, as well as their surface area, or extent. By helping track changes in water volume over time, the data will better equip scientists and water resource managers to monitor how much water flows into and out of Earth’s freshwater bodies.
SWOT is a collaboration between NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatial (CNES), with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the UK Space Agency. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is managing the launch service.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite from Space Launch Complex-4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, on Monday, Dec. 5, 2022. Photo credit: CNES/Thales Alenia Space
NASA, the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), and SpaceX are now targeting Monday, Dec. 5, for the launch of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography, or SWOT, satellite. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch SWOT from Space Launch Complex-4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The SWOT project team determined a shift of the launch date was needed in order to complete all the necessary tasks in the lead-up to launch, including transporting the satellite from Cannes, France, to Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
SWOT is the first satellite mission that will survey nearly all water on Earth. Viewing Earth’s water in higher definition than ever before will inform water equity and water management decisions, provide new insights into Earth’s water and energy cycle, and help prepare communities for rising seas and changing coastlines in a warming climate.
