The NASA-led, six nation Aquarius SAC-D mission takes flight from California's Pacific Coast. Photo Credit/NASA
The Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft — a six nation collaboration for studies of the world’s oceans and their interactions with the Earth’s atmosphere and land masses, hurtled into Earth orbit on Friday, handing researchers a new global tool in the study of weather patterns and climate change.
The $400 million mission took flight from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket at 10:20 a.m., EDT.
“Data from this mission will advance our understanding of the ocean and prediction of the global water cycle,” said Michael Freilich, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division. “This mission demonstrates the power of international collaboration and accurate space borne measurements for science and societal benefit.”
The spacecraft carries NASA’s Aquarius instrumentation, a science package designed to conduct the first global measurements of ocean salinity levels — indicators of evaporation, rainfall, ice melt and changing currents.
NASA’s principal collaborator in the spacecraft development was Argentina’s Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales, or CONAE. . Other mission partners included Brazil, Canada, France and Italy.
The NASA instrumentation will map the global ocean once every seven days for at least three years. The maps will show how ocean surface salinity changes each month, season and year by sensing microwave emissions from the water surfaces.
The first month of the Aquarius/SAC/D mission will be spent testing and maneuvering the satellite into its final orbital home. Ultimately, the spacecraft circle the Earth in a near polar orbit at an altitude of just over 400 miles.