Management

SWOT is a joint mission developed by NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency and the UK Space Agency. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the mission for the Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. JPL constructed the satellite’s science payload, while CNES’ prime contractor Thales Alenia Space completed assembly, integration and test of the payload and of the spacecraft bus at its headquarters in Cannes, France.

At NASA Headquarters, Thomas Zurbuchen is the associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate. Karen St. Germain is the director of the Earth Science Division. Tahani Amer is program executive for SWOT, and Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer is program scientist for the mission.

At NASA JPL, Parag Vaze is the project manager, and Lee-Lueng Fu is the project scientist.

At CNES, Thierry Lafon is the program manager for SWOT; Annick Sylvestre-Baron is the oceanography science expert; Philippe Maisongrande is the hydrology science expert; and Anne Lifermann is the coastal science expert.

At Thales Alenia Space, Christophe Duplay is the project manager for the SWOT satellite. Frédéric Robert is the project manager for the KaRIn radio-frequency subsystem and Cédric Biegel is the project manager for the Poseidon altimeter.