SWOT Mission
12/16/2022
SWOT uses two radar antennas separated by a 10-meter mast to produce detailed maps of water surface elevation.
SWOT is scheduled to launch in November from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The SWOT launch delay was needed to complete necessary prelaunch tasks, including transporting the satellite from Cannes, France to Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Thales Alenia Space was contracted by the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) to manufacture the SWOT satellite bus and conduct the final assembly, integration, and test.
Thales Alenia Space was contracted by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales to manufacture the SWOT satellite bus and conduct final assembly, integration, and test.
SWOT will operate from a unique non-sun-synchronous orbit to measure the height of water in lakes, rivers, reservoirs, and oceans in higher definition than previously achieved.
The SWOT satellite is targeted to launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
SWOT’s Ka-band Radar Interferometer produced clear ocean observations immediately after instrument activation.
The SWOT satellite exemplifies the work of the Data Campus by providing precise water level and river flow measurements on an easy-to-use platform called hydroweb.next.
SWOT's advanced Karin (Ka-band Radar Interferometer) instrument showed that a significant portion of the tsunami's energy became trapped along the continental shelf.
Virginia Tech geoscientists are using the SWOT satellite to study how water shapes the land.
SWOT is scheduled to launch in November 2022 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
NASA modified its Launch Services 2 contract with SpaceX on 2022-04-06 to change the upcoming launch of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite from a new Falcon 9 booster to a previously flown Falcon 9 booster.
NASA selected SpaceX to launch SWOT in November 2016.
SWOT is slated for launch no earlier than 2022-12-05 atop a Falcon 9 vehicle operated by SpaceX from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully launched the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) spacecraft on 2022-12-16.
Thales Alenia Space built the SWOT spacecraft bus provided by CNES.
NASA cleared the SWOT launch on late 2022-12-15 after inspections without requiring an engine replacement.
SpaceX postponed the SWOT launch from 2022-12-15 to 2022-12-16 to perform inspections of two first-stage engines where moisture was noticed.
The Falcon 9 first stage booster used for the SWOT mission had previously launched NROL-87, NROL-85, SARah-1, and two Starlink missions.