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Jason-2

Jason-2

The Jason-2/Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM), the third in a U.

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Mission Statistics

Launch Date

Jun 20, 2008

Type

Orbiter

Target

Earth

Status

Past

About the mission

The Jason-2/Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM), the third in a U.S.-European series of satellite missions designed to measure sea surface height, successfully ended its science mission on Oct. 1. NASA and its mission partners made the decision to end the mission after detecting deterioration in the spacecraft's power system.

Jason 2 was an Earth satellite designed to make observations of ocean topography for investigations into sea-level rise and the relationship between ocean circulation and climate change. The satellite also provided data on the forces behind such large-scale climate phenomena as El Niño and La Niña.

The mission was a follow-on to the French-American Jason 1 mission, which began collecting data on sea-surface levels in 1992.

Instruments

  • Altimeter
  • Advanced Microwave Radiometer (AMR)
  • Doppler Orbitography Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS)
  • Laser Retroflector Array (LRA)

Mission Highlights

End of Mission - October 1, 2019
Target: Earth
› Mission Website
› Jason 2 Press Kit
› Ocean Surface Topography Mission Press Kit
› Jason 2 Fact Sheet
› NASA Mission Page
› Jason 2 on National Space Science Data Center

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