PARIS — The
U.S.-European Jason-2 ocean altimetry satellite was launched successfully June
20 aboard a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on a
five-year mission to continue the uninterrupted study of ocean levels and
currents that was begun in the early 1990s in a U.S.-French partnership.
The launch
featured the use of a video camera mounted on the Delta 2 upper stage and
trained on the Jason-2
satellite to beam live images of the satellite's separation from the rocket
and the deployment of its two solar arrays.
NASA
spokesman Alan Buis said that while a similar camera angle has been used once
before on a Delta 2 mission, the Jason-2 launch was the first time a live video
stream from a Delta 2 captured solar-panel deployment.
Building
upon the work of its Topex-Poseidon and Jason-1 predecessors, built for the
French space agency, CNES, and NASA, Jason-2 has the added support of the U.S.
and European meteorological agencies. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) and its European counterpart, the 21-nation Eumetsat,
each made financial contributions to Jason-2, a demonstration of the increasing
number of military and civil organizations that make regular use of ocean-altimetry.
The growing
population of Jason data users has made clear that, in order to justify
investing in future applications, it needs to be assured that there will be no
interruption of altimetry data. This remains a weak point in the Jason program.
Topex-Poseidon
was launched in 1992 on a mission designed to last between three and five
years. It ended up functioning for more than a decade, meaning the delays in
the launch of Jason-1 in 2001 did not cause gaps in data gathering.
Similarly,
Jason-1 was designed to operate for five years but has remained healthy to this
day.
Jason-2
also is designed
to last five years, and as of now there is no firm decision on a Jason-3.
NASA has said that, as a research agency, its job is not to produce multiple
copies of the same hardware. It will not be taking part in any future Jason
missions.
CNES has
adopted the same view as NASA, but has said it has a spare model of the same
satellite platform used for Jason-2 and is willing to contribute that to a
Jason-3 effort. NOAA and Eumetsat have indicated they likely will support
Jason-3 but have made no formal commitments.
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