CALIPSO was a joint

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

(US) and

CNES CNES () is the French national space agency. Headquartered in central Paris, the agency is overseen by the ministries of the Armed Forces, Economy and Finance and Higher Education, Research and Innovation. It operates from the Toulouse Spac ...

(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 incr ...

, which was launched atop a

Delta II Delta II was an expendable launch system, originally designed and built by McDonnell Douglas, and sometimes known as the Thorad Delta 1. Delta II was part of the Delta rocket family, derived directly from the Delta 3000, and entered service in ...

rocket on April 28, 2006. Its name stands for Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations. CALIPSO launched alongside

CloudSat CloudSat is a Passivated NASA Earth observation satellite, which was launched on a Delta II rocket on April 28, 2006, and is awaiting disposal. It used radar to measure the altitude and properties of clouds, adding to the information on the relat ...

. Passive and active

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...

instruments on board the CALIPSO satellite monitored aerosols and clouds 24 hours a day. CALIPSO was part of the "C-Train" alongside CloudSat, orbiting on a similar track to the " A-Train." The mission ended on August 1, 2023 after over 17 years. Final passivation occurred on December 15, 2023.

Mission

Three instruments: * Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) - a

lidar Lidar (, also LIDAR, an acronym of "light detection and ranging" or "laser imaging, detection, and ranging") is a method for determining ranging, ranges by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected li ...

that provided high-resolution vertical profiles of

aerosol An aerosol is a suspension (chemistry), suspension of fine solid particles or liquid Drop (liquid), droplets in air or another gas. Aerosols can be generated from natural or Human impact on the environment, human causes. The term ''aerosol'' co ...

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 Aerospacebr>CT-633
star tracker camera. It was selected to match band 1 of the

MODIS The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is a satellite-based sensor used for earth and climate measurements. There are two MODIS sensors in Earth orbit: one on board the Terra (EOS AM) satellite, launched by NASA in 19 ...

instrument on the Aqua satellite. * Imaging Infrared Radiometer (IIR) - used to detect

cirrus cloud Cirrus ( cloud classification symbol: Ci) is a genus of high cloud made of ice crystals. Cirrus clouds typically appear delicate and wispy with white strands. In the Earth's atmosphere, cirrus are usually formed when warm, dry air rises, causing ...

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. CALIPSO moved to the C-Train in 2020. The mission ended on August 1, 2023 due to lack of propellant.

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
*(https://www.nasa.gov/feature/first-long-duration-lidar-satellite-mission-calipso-ends) {{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 Spacecraft decommissioned in 2023

Mission

See also

References

External links