European Space Agency set to launch sophisticated polar ice surveillance satellite
By APThursday, April 8, 2010
European climate satellite ready for launch
BERLIN — The European Space Agency is preparing to launch a sophisticated new surveillance satellite aimed at exploring the effects of climate change on ice.
The ESA said the Russian State Commission has approved the launch of the CryoSat 2 satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1357 GMT (9:57 a.m. EDT) Thursday.
CryoSat 2 is designed to pinpoint the effects of global warming on Earth’s polar ice sheets. Using radar technology, it is to measure tiny variations in the thickness of ice floating in the polar oceans and on land.
ESA lost its first CryoSat mission in 2005 when the launcher rocket failed.
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