The SWOT spacecraft, which had a three-year primary mission, was launched atop a SpaceX rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California
On more than 90% of the surface of the Earth
The satellite will measure the height of water in freshwater bodies of water and the ocean. This knowledge will shed light on how the ocean affects climate change and how a warming world works.
The U.S. portion of the project is led by JPL, which is run by Caltech in Pasadena, California, on behalf of NASA. NASA is supplying the KaRIn instrument, a GPS science receiver, a laser retroreflector, a two-beam microwave radiometer, and NASA instrument operations for the flight system payload.
The satellite platform, the ground control segment, the dual frequency Poseidon altimeter (created by Thales Alenia Space), the KaRIn radio-frequency subsystem (in collaboration with Thales Alenia Space and with support from the UK Space Agency), and the Doppler Orbitography and Radioposition Integrated by Satellite (DORIS) system are all provided by CNES.
The KaRIn high-power transmitter assembly is supplied by CSA. The accompanying launch services are being managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program, which is situated at Kennedy Space Center. NASA is providing the launch vehicle.