CALIPSO is a joint
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...
(USA) and
CNES (France) environmental satellite, built in the
Cannes Mandelieu Space Center
The Cannes Mandelieu Space Center is an industrial plant dedicated to spacecraft manufacturing, located in both the towns of Cannes and Mandelieu in France. After a long history in aircraft manufacturing, starting in 1929, the center became incre ...
, which was launched atop a
Delta II
Delta II was an expendable launch system, originally designed and built by McDonnell Douglas. Delta II was part of the Delta rocket family and entered service in 1989. Delta II vehicles included the Delta 6000, and the two later Delta 7000 va ...
rocket on April 28, 2006. Its name stands for Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations. CALIPSO Launched Alongside
CloudSat.
Passive and active remote sensing Instruments on board the CALIPSO satellite monitor aerosols and clouds 24 hours a day. CALIPSO is part of the "
A Train", flying in formation with several other satellites (
Aqua,
Aura
Aura most commonly refers to:
* Aura (paranormal), a field of luminous multicolored radiation around a person or object
* Aura (symptom), a symptom experienced before a migraine or seizure
Aura may also refer to:
Places Extraterrestrial
* 1488 ...
and
CloudSat).
Mission
Three instruments:
* Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) - a
lidar that provides high-resolution vertical profiles of
aerosol
An aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in air or another gas. Aerosols can be natural or anthropogenic. Examples of natural aerosols are fog or mist, dust, forest exudates, and geyser steam. Examples of anthropogen ...
s and
cloud
In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may ...
s.
* Wide Field Camera (WFC) - a modified version of the commercial off-the-shelf
Ball Aerospace
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. is an American manufacturer of spacecraft, components and instruments for national defense, civil space and commercial space applications. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ball Corporation ( NYSE: BA ...
br>
CT-633 star tracker camera. It was selected to match band 1 of the
MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite.
* Imaging Infrared Radiometer (IIR) - used to detect
cirrus cloud emissivity and particle size. The CALIOP laser beam is aligned with the center of the IIR image to optimize joint CALIOP/IIR observations.
In February 2009, CALIPSO switched over to the redundant laser as scheduled. The primary laser achieved its mission goal of three years of successful operation, and the redundant laser has been performing beyond expectations.
The CALIPSO mission was granted extended mission status in June 2009.
See also
*
A-train (satellite constellation)
*
Earth Observing System
*
List of spaceflights (2006)
References
External links
CALIPSO OutreachThe CALIPSO page at NASAThe CALIPSO page at French National Centre for Space Studies (CNES)CALIPSO Mission Profile
b
NASA's Solar System ExplorationCALIPSO specs at NASA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calipso
Earth observation satellites of the United States
Environmental science
Satellites orbiting Earth
Satellite meteorology
Satellites of France
Spacecraft launched by Delta II rockets
Spacecraft launched in 2006
NASA satellites
2006 in France