page_title: CryoSat-2
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: CryoSat-2 / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Antarctica. An orthographic projection of NASA's Blue Marble data set (1 km resolution global satellite composite). "MODIS observations of polar sea ice were combined with observations of Antarctica made by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s AVHRR sensor—the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer." Image was generated using a custom C program for handling the Blue Marble files, with orthographic projection formulas from MathWorld. Note: this image has been manually modified to fill in an area of black pixels in the ocean, in the upper right quadrant. The black pixels are presumed to be due to missing data in the land/sea mask used in making the original Blue Marble image.
context_page_description: CryoSat-2 is a European Space Agency environmental research satellite which was launched in April 2010. It provides scientists with data about the polar ice caps and tracks changes in the thickness of the ice with a resolution of about 1.3 centimetres.
  CryoSat-2 was built as a replacement for CryoSat-1, whose Rokot carrier rocket was unable to achieve orbit, resulting in the loss of the satellite. Compared to its predecessor, CryoSat-2 features software upgrades, greater battery capacity and an updated instrument package. Its main instrument is an interferometric radar range-finder with twin antennas, which measures the height difference between the upper surface of floating ice and surrounding water. This is often known as 'free-board'.
  CryoSat-2 is operated as part of the CryoSat programme to study the Earth's polar ice caps, which is itself part of the Living Planet programme. The CryoSat-2 spacecraft was constructed by EADS Astrium, and was launched by ISC Kosmotras, using a Dnepr carrier rocket, on 8 April 2010. On 22 October 2010, CryoSat-2 was declared operational following six months of on-orbit testing.
context_section_description: The initial proposal for the CryoSat programme was submitted as part of a call for proposals in July 1998 for Earth Explorer missions as part of the European Space Agency's Living Planet programme. It was selected for further studies in 1999, and following completion of a feasibility study the mission was authorised. The construction phase began in 2001, and in 2002 EADS Astrium was awarded a contract to build the spacecraft. A contract was also signed with Eurockot, to conduct the launch of the satellite using a Rokot/Briz-KM carrier rocket.
  Construction of the original spacecraft was completed in August 2004. Following testing, the spacecraft was shipped to the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia during August 2005 and arrived on 1 September. The launch occurred from Site 133/3 on 8 October; however, due to a missing command in the rocket's flight control system, the second-stage engine did not shut down at the end of its planned burn, and instead the stage burned to depletion. This prevented the second stage and Briz-KM from separating, and as a result the rocket failed to achieve orbit. The spacecraft was lost when it reentered over the Arctic Ocean, north of Greenland.
  Due to the importance of the CryoSat mission for understanding global warming and reductions in polar ice caps, a replacement satellite was proposed. The development of CryoSat-2 was authorised in February 2006, less than five months after the failure.
caption: Antarctica; CryoSat-2 is designed to study Earth's polar ice caps
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