JPL
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
JPL Logo
JPL Logo
Earth
.

Assembly of Satellite to Track World’s Water Shifts From US to France

June 30, 2021

Teams from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and the March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, California, loaded the scientific payload for the SWOT Earth-observing satellite into a C-17 airplane on June 27. The hardware is headed to a clean room facility near Cannes, France.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Some of the people who helped to load the hardware for the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite’s research instruments onto a C-17 airplane pose for a picture. The payload left March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, California, on June 27 and is headed to France.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

This illustration shows the SWOT satellite in orbit around Earth, with two antennas on either side of the spacecraft, as well as two large solar panels. SWOT will provide about a terabyte of data each day about the amount and distribution of Earth’s surface water to researchers.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Part of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite’s science instrument payload sits in a clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory during assembly.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Set for launch next year, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission will help scientists monitor Earth’s ocean, as well as the amount of fresh water in its lakes and rivers.

The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission took a big step toward launch this week when a team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California shipped the scientific heart of the satellite to France. A U.S. Air Force C-17 airplane carrying the hardware – which includes finely tuned research instruments – left March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, California, on June 27. It arrived today, June 30, at a Thales Alenia Space clean room facility near Cannes, France, where engineers and technicians will spend the next year integrating the hardware with the rest of the satellite.

“Sunday was a long day under very hot conditions, but the team did a great job packing the hardware into the plane. Now that the payload is in France, we’re a major step closer to finishing this satellite and getting to launch,” said Parag Vaze, SWOT project manager at JPL.

Get the Latest JPL News

SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER

SWOT is a collaboration between NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Etudes Spatial (CNES), with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA). The SUV-size spacecraft will make global surveys of Earth’s surface water. By measuring its height, researchers can track the volume and location of the finite resource around the world. The data will help with monitoring changes in flood plains and wetlands, measure how much fresh water flows into and out of lakes and rivers and back to the ocean, and track regional shifts in sea level.

The Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission (SWOT) will help scientists monitor Earth’s ocean, as well as the amount of freshwater in its lakes and rivers when it launches in late 2022. After engineers put together the spacecraft's payload of scientific instruments at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the satellite now moves to Cannes, France, to complete integration before it will be launched in late 2022. Project manager Parag Vaze explains.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The information SWOT will provide on small-scale ocean currents will also support real-time ocean activities like shipping that are affected by tides, currents, storm surges, and other natural phenomena. And SWOT data will provide, for the first time, global observations of how circular currents, called eddies, affect how the ocean stores heat and releases it into the atmosphere, as well as how carbon moves through the marine environment.

Several of JPL’s engineers and technicians are following the hardware to France. Once there, they’ll help their counterparts with CNES and their prime contractor, Thales Alenia Space, complete the build. Once done, SWOT will make the journey back to California, where it will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base no earlier than November 2022.

More About the Mission

SWOT is being jointly developed by NASA and CNES, with contributions from the CSA and UKSA. JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, leads the U.S. component of the project. For the flight system payload, NASA is providing the Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn) instrument, a GPS science receiver, a laser retroreflector, and a two-beam microwave radiometer. CNES is providing the Doppler Orbitography and Radioposition Integrated by Satellite (DORIS) system, nadir altimeter, and the KaRIn RF subsystem (with support from the UKSA). CSA is providing the KaRIn high-power transmitter assembly. NASA is providing associated launch services.

To learn more about the mission, visit:

https://swot.jpl.nasa.gov/

News Media Contact

Jane J. Lee / Ian J. O’Neill

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

818-354-0307 / 818-354-2649

jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov / ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov

2021-131

Related News

Earth .

NASA Measures Underground Water Flowing From Sierra to Central Valley

Earth .

NASA Scientists and Satellites Make Sense of Earth’s Subtle Motions

Climate Change .

NASA Space Missions Pinpoint Sources of CO2 Emissions on Earth

Earth .

Watch the Latest Water Satellite Unfold Itself in Space

Technology .

Moon Water Imager Integrated With NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer

Earth .

NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Sentinel-6B Mission

Earth .

NASA Launches International Mission to Survey Earth’s Water

Climate Change .

NASA Sensors to Help Detect Methane Emitted by Landfills

Earth .

Latest International Water Satellite Packs an Engineering Punch

Earth .

Water-Tracking SWOT Satellite Encapsulated in Rocket Payload Fairing

Explore More

Image .

London, England Parks

Mission .

Surface Water and Ocean Topography

Mission .

Surface Water and Ocean Topography

Image .

Potosi, Bolivia

Image .

California Atmospheric River Storms Captured by NASA's AIRS

Image .

Eriskay Island, Scotland

Image .

Airborne NASA Radar Maps Mauna Loa Lava Changes in Hawaii

Image .

Satellite Data Shows Ground Motion From Mauna Loa Volcano Eruption

Mission .

Lunar Flashlight

Image .

Takawangha Volcano, Alaska

About JPL
Who We Are
Executive Council
Directors
Careers
Internships
The JPL Story
JPL Achievements
Documentary Series
Annual Reports
Missions
Current
Past
Future
All
News
All
Earth
Solar System
Stars and Galaxies
Subscribe to JPL News
Galleries
Images
Videos
Audio
Podcasts
Apps
Visions of the Future
Slice of History
Robotics at JPL
Events
Lecture Series
Team Competitions
Speakers Bureau
Calendar
Visit
Public Tours
Virtual Tour
Directions and Maps
Topics
JPL Life
Solar System
Mars
Earth
Climate Change
Exoplanets
Stars and Galaxies
Robotics
More
Asteroid Watch
NASA's Eyes Visualizations
Universe - Internal Newsletter
Social Media
Get the Latest from JPL
Follow Us

JPL is a federally funded research and development center managed for NASA by Caltech.

More from JPL
Careers Education Science & Technology Acquisitions JPL Store
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
Acquisitions
JPL Store
Related NASA Sites
Basics of Spaceflight
Climate Kids
Earth / Global Climate Change
Exoplanet Exploration
Mars Exploration
Solar System Exploration
Space Place
NASA's Eyes Visualization Project
Voyager Interstellar Mission
NASA
Caltech
Privacy
Image Policy
FAQ
Feedback
Site Managers: Veronica McGregor, Randal Jackson
Site Editors: Tony Greicius, Naomi Hartono
CL#: 21-0018