Lidar systems like CALIPSO study clouds and aerosols using laser pulses to measure distances accurately.
CALIPSO operated for 17 years and recorded more than 10 billion lidar measurements.
CALIPSO launched together with the CloudSat satellite on 2006-04-28.
CALIPSO observed smoke from Australia’s 2020 wildfires between 9 and 19.3 km above Earth’s surface, reaching the stratosphere.
CALIPSO's measurements were in close association with CloudSat's cloud radar observations.
CALIPSO is a result of collaboration between NASA Langley Research Center and CNES.
The scientific mission of CALIPSO officially ended on 1 August 2023.
CALIPSO was launched on 28 April 2006.
CALIPSO has contributed to over 4,000 scientific publications covering various domains including ocean, cryosphere, and biosphere.
CALIPSO utilized the CALIOP instrument for laser sounding and the IIR instrument for infrared imagery.
CALIPSO will be passivated and shut down at the end of 2023.
The CALIPSO project will refine and document its vast catalogue of data products over the next two years.
CALIPSO was part of the A-Train space observatory composed of American, French, and Japanese satellites.
CALIPSO separated from CloudSat by just a few dozen seconds during operation.
The CALIPSO mission ended on 1 August 2023 after 17 years of operations and scientific results.
CALIPSO was based on a PROTEUS platform supplied by Thales Alenia Space.
For 17 years, CALIPSO provided measurements for the almost-3D characterization of clouds and aerosols.
The CNES teams will continue to operate CALIPSO for a few more months for technological experiments.
CALIPSO was operated jointly by CNES teams in Toulouse and NASA teams in Hampton, Virginia.