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

Satellite to Study Earth’s Water Arrives at Launch Site

Oct. 20, 2022
A container with the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite is offloaded from an Air Force C-5 airplane on Oct. 16, 2022, at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Central California.
A container with the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite is offloaded from an Air Force C-5 airplane on Oct. 16, 2022, at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Central California.
Credit: NASA
Full Image Details

The international SWOT mission will view Earth’s ocean and surface water on land with unprecedented clarity.

The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite arrived at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, where teams will begin final preparations for the spacecraft’s launch in December on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Center-4 East.

SWOT is the first satellite mission that will observe nearly all water on Earth’s surface, measuring the height of water in the planet’s lakes, rivers, reservoirs, and the ocean. SWOT’s instruments will be able to resolve ocean features like currents and eddies less than 60 miles (100 kilometers) across, lakes and reservoirs larger than 15 acres (6 hectares), and rivers wider than 330 feet (100 meters) across.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California built the scientific payload. In June 2021, JPL shipped the payload to France, where a multinational team integrated the Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn) and other finely tuned instruments with the satellite bus.

Get the Latest JPL News

SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER

On Oct. 16, SWOT arrived at Vandenberg from France aboard a U.S. Air Force C-5 Galaxy aircraft and moved to the Astrotech Space Operations facility to begin launch processing. In the coming weeks, SWOT will undergo many steps in preparation for liftoff. Teams must encapsulate the satellite in a protective payload fairing, mate it to the rocket, and transport it to the launch pad before it’s ready to rocket into space.

Once in orbit, SWOT will collect data from the ocean, helping researchers better understand how seawater absorbs atmospheric heat and carbon, a process that affects global temperatures and climate change. This data will also help researchers better understand coastal sea levels and, ultimately, how sea surface height will interact with a changing climate to affect things like storm surges.

SWOT will also provide the first comprehensive global survey of freshwater lakes, rivers, and reservoirs from space. The satellite will measure the height of the water in these water bodies, as well as their surface area, or extent. By helping track changes in water volume over time, the data will better equip scientists and water resource managers to monitor how much water flows into and out of Earth’s freshwater bodies.

SWOT is a collaboration between NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatial (CNES), with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the UK Space Agency. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is managing the launch service.

2022-157

Related News

Earth .

Water-Watching Satellite Monitors Warming Ocean off California Coast

Solar System .

Venus on Earth: NASA’s VERITAS Science Team Studies Volcanic Iceland

Climate Change .

NASA-Built Greenhouse Gas Detector Moves Closer to Launch

Earth .

NASA Scientists Test New Tool for Tracking Algal Blooms

Mars .

NASA, Partners Study Ancient Life in Australia to Inform Mars Search

Earth .

NASA Maps Key Heat Wave Differences in Southern California

Earth .

NASA Announces Launch Service for Arctic Warming Experiment

Earth .

NASA Data Shows Fierce Surface Temperatures During Phoenix Heat Wave

Earth .

NASA Helps Spot Wine Grape Disease From Skies Above California

Earth .

Crews Head Down River, Out to Sea to Prep New SWOT Water Satellite

Explore More

Image .

SWOT Monitors Warming Waters Off California Coast

Image .

Imaging Spectrometer Fully Integrated

Image .

Imaging Spectrometer Inside Thermal Vacuum Chamber

Image .

Imaging Spectrometer Vacuum Chamber Test

Image .

Methane Signal From Carbon Mapper Instrument Test

Image .

Imaging Spectrometer Vibration Test

Image .

Channeled Scablands, Washington

Image .

SWOT Captures the Yukon River in Alaska

Image .

COWVR, TEMPEST Capture Vital Data on Hurricane Franklin

Image .

COWVR, TEMPEST Capture Vital Data on Hurricane Idalia

About JPL
Who We Are
Executive Council
Directors
Careers
Internships
The JPL Story
JPL Achievements
Documentary Series
Annual Reports
JPL Plan: 2023-2026
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