Successful launch for ESA's CryoSat-2 ice satellite (Forwarded)

European Space Agency
Press Release No. 07-2010
Paris, France 8 April 2010

Successful launch for ESA's CryoSat-2 ice satellite

Europe's first mission dedicated to studying the Earth's ice was launched
today from Kazakhstan. From its polar orbit, CryoSat-2 will send back data
leading to new insights into how ice is responding to climate change and the
role it plays in our 'Earth system'.

The CryoSat-2 satellite was launched at 15:57 CEST (13:57 UTC) on a Dnepr
rocket provided by the International Space Company Kosmotras from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The signal confirming that it had
separated from the launcher came 17 minutes later from the Malindi ground
station in Kenya.

CryoSat-2 replaces the original CryoSat satellite that was lost in 2005
owing to a launch failure. The mission objectives, however, remain the same:
to measure changes in the thickness of the vast ice sheets that overlie
Antarctica and Greenland, as well as variations in the thickness of the
relatively thin ice floating in the polar oceans.

"We know from our radar satellites that sea ice extent is diminishing, but
there is still an urgent need to understand how the volume of ice is
changing," said Volker Liebig, ESA's Director of Earth Observation
Programmes. "To make these calculations, scientists also need information on
ice thickness, which is exactly what our new CryoSat satellite will provide.
We are now very much looking forward to receiving the first data from the
mission."

The launch of CryoSat-2 marks a significant achievement for ESA's Earth
observation programme and brings to three the number of its Earth Explorer
satellites placed in orbit, all having been launched within a little over 12
months. CryoSat-2 follows on from the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean
Circulation Explorer (GOCE) mission, launched in March 2009, and the Soil
Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission, launched last November.

Earth Explorers are launched in direct response to issues identified by the
scientific community and aim to improve our understanding of how the Earth
system works and the effect that human activity is having on natural
processes.

In response to this need, CryoSat-2 is carrying the first radar altimeter of
its kind to overcome the difficulties of measuring icy surfaces. Its primary
payload, the sophisticated SAR/Interferometric Radar Altimeter (SIRAL), was
developed by Thales Alenia Space to measure the thickness of ice floating in
the oceans and monitor changes in the ice sheets on land, particularly
around the edges where icebergs are calved.

The CryoSat-2 satellite was built by a consortium led by EADS Astrium. The
satellite is in a polar orbit, reaching latitudes of 88 deg. This is closer
to the poles than earlier Earth observation satellites, resulting in an
additional area of about 4.6 million sq km being covered. This extra
coverage amounts to an area larger than all 27 European Union member states
put together. The combination of the technology onboard and a polar orbit
will provide evidence to further our understanding of the relationship
between ice and climate.

Now that CryoSat-2 is safely in orbit, the Mission Control Team at ESA's
European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany is busy with the
critical 'Launch and Early Operations Phase'.

[NOTE: Images and weblinks supporting this release are available at
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMH5ZZNK7G_index_1.html ]