Update:1 February 2022
Mission Status: CloudSat resumed daytime-only observations on December 16, 2021. More information.
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| 1 February 2022 | CloudSat News
CloudSat Resumes Science Operations
After a series of innovative changes to the command loads on the spacecraft, Ball Aerospace engineers were able to use the remaining momentum wheels and torque-rods to stabilize the craft and allow the re-activation of the CPR instrument. After the long period of dormancy, the radar is performing nominally, and the mission will now operate in the same day-time-only mode that was in place prior to the momentum wheel failure on August 27th of 2020.
The new stabilization procedure is producing a harmonic offset in the “roll” and “pitch” direction of the spacecraft axis, resulting in a radar bore-sight pointing offset that varies from approximately 2-6 degrees off-nadir. Engineering data from the spacecraft has been successfully applied to the science data to correct the geolocation of each CPR profile.
After review by the CloudSat Science Team, this unique data set will be processed and released, along with roll and pitch offset parameters.
The real-time “QuickLook” images and granule specifications will continue to be available on the CloudSat DPC website.
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26 August 2020 | CloudSat News
Hurricane Laura
CloudSat overpasses through the center of Hurricane Laura in the Gulf of Mexico.
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27 September 2018 | CloudSat News
CloudSat and CALIPSO
CloudSat and CALIPSO, briefly separated, working together again.
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More CloudSat News...
CloudSat is an experimental
satellite that uses radar to observe clouds and
precipitation from space.
CloudSat orbits in formation as part of the
A-Train constellation of satellites
(Aqua,
CloudSat,
CALIPSO,
PARASOL, and
Aura).
Orbital elements (two-line elements or TLEs) for CloudSat are available here (CloudSat DPC). CloudSat ground tracks may be predicted using tools located on this NASA LaRC page. Orbital elements at the LaRC page are updated regularly, but use the DPC link for the very latest TLEs.
For an overview document (PDF) of science and research themes, click here. The BAMS 2002 article (PDF) describing the CloudSat mission is available
here.
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