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ESA Proceeding with CryoSat-2 |
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PARIS, France, March 13, 2007/Satnews Daily/ ― The European Space Agency (ESA) is proceeding ahead with CryoSat-2, which will track and provide warning about changes in polar ice as a defense against global warming.
CryoSat-2 replaces CryoSat, which was lost as a result of launch failure in October 2005. Scheduled for launch in 2009, CryoSat-2 will measure fluctuations in the thickness of ice on both land and sea to provide conclusive evidence as to whether there is indeed a trend towards diminishing ice cover. Since ice plays such an important role in the Earth system, predicting future climate and sea level depends on the data that CryoSat-2 will accumulate.
With the threat of receding ice cover in the polar regions thought to be due to climate change, the need to understand the extent to which this may be happening is even more urgent today than it was when the first CryoSat was selected for development in 1999. The International Polar Year 2007-2008 will focus resources on making measurements of the polar environments. The loss of the original CryoSat prevented it contributing to this effort but the exploitation of CryoSat-2 will benefit from the IPY.
Notable among the changes in CryoSat-2 is the decision to have the satellite carry a back-up for the main payload, the SAR/Interferometric Radar Altimeter (SIRAL). SIRAL ‘s design encompasses enhanced resolution and observing capabilities to meet the challenges of acquiring accurate measurements of the thickness of floating sea ice, while also being able to survey the surface of vast ice sheets accurately enough to detect small changes.
Richard Francis, ESA CryoSat-2 project manager, said after the launch failure, their teams managed to get themselves organized pretty quickly so that when they got the go-ahead for CryoSat-2, they knew exactly what to do. “Our industrial team has made astonishing progress in the last year with some flight hardware already delivered. So far everything’s on track and we expect that to continue, so that by the end of 2007 our beloved CryoSat will be almost completely reassembled.”
In addition to building the new satellite, a number of field experiments to support the mission are getting underway in the Arctic. First is the Arctic Arc Expedition, part of the International Polar Year. The expedition’s two Belgian explorers, Alain Hubert and Dixie Dansercoer, have just left for a punishing 110-day trek across the Arctic. Each pulling a 130-kg sledge holding supplies and equipment, the two intrepid explorers will 'walk' from an island off the coast of Siberia to southern Greenland – a route never before considered. In support of the CryoSat-2 Project they will be taking valuable measurements of snow depth throughout their journey.
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