page_title: CALIPSO
section_title: Mission
hierarchical_section_title: CALIPSO / Mission
caption_attribution_description: English: On Vandenberg Air Force Base Space Launch Complex 2W, the Delta II rocket stands ready for fueling in preparation for launch. The CALIPSO and CloudSat satellites are set to launch at 6:02 a.m. EDT on April 23 from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) on missions to study clouds and aerosols, tiny particles in the air. CALIPSO and CloudSat are set to fly into orbit aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket. The Delta II is designed to boost medium-sized satellites and robotic explorers into space. NASA selected a model 7420-10C for this mission, which is a two-stage rocket equipped with four strap-on motors and a protective 10-foot payload fairing.
context_page_description: CALIPSO is a joint NASA and CNES environmental satellite, built in the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center, which was launched atop a Delta II rocket on April 28, 2006. Its name stands for Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations.
  Passive and active remote sensing Instruments on board the CALIPSO satellite monitor aerosols and clouds 24 hours a day. CALIPSO is part of the "A Train", flying in formation with several other satellites.
context_section_description: Three instruments:
  Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) - a lidar that provides high-resolution vertical profiles of aerosols and clouds.
  Wide Field Camera (WFC) - a modified version of the commercial off-the-shelf Ball Aerospace CT-633 star tracker camera. It was selected to match band 1 of the MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite.
  Imaging Infrared Radiometer (IIR) - used to detect cirrus cloud emissivity and particle size. The CALIOP laser beam is aligned with the center of the IIR image to optimize joint CALIOP/IIR observations.
  In February 2009, CALIPSO switched over to the redundant laser as scheduled. The primary laser achieved its mission goal of three years of successful operation, and the redundant laser has been performing beyond expectations.
  The CALIPSO mission was granted extended mission status in June 2009.
caption: The Delta II rocket with CALIPSO and CloudSat on Launch Pad SLC-2W, VAFB.
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