Space4Climate Chair Beth Greenaway, Head of Earth Observation and Climate at the UK Space Agency, is due to attend the launch of the SWOT climate satellite on Thursday (December 15th, 2022) in California.
SWOT stands for Surface Water and Ocean Topography and the satellite will observe from space Earth’s oceans, major lakes, rivers and wetlands in high-level resolution. The data it sends back will provide information to assess water resources on land, track regional sea level changes, monitor coastal processes and observe small-scale ocean currents and eddies.
Water on Earth’s land surface is central to human life and natural ecosystems — and is changing as humans influence the landscape and because of changing climate. SWOT will greatly increase our knowledge of surface water across the planet, to help understand and manage the threats to this precious resource.
SWOT will also have capabilities that help us understand the ocean surface and its currents in fine detail. Ocean currents play crucial roles in moving heat around the planet and profoundly affect life in the sea.
The mission has been jointly developed by NASA and the French Space Agency, Centre National D’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), with contributions from the UK Space Agency and Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
The satellite is due to be launched at 11.46am on Thursday, on a SpaceX rocket. Members of the public can register to attend the launch virtually through NASA’s virtual guest programme. There will be a NASA SWOT Science Briefing broadcast on Tuesday and a NASA SWOT News Conference on Wednesday (see details below).
UK expertise behind the mission
Beth will be in California to watch the launch and to promote the UK expertise that has contributed to the collaborative mission. Honeywell UK has developed the Duplexer, a high-power switching system that is part of the radio-frequency unit, which was funded by the UK Space Agency which contributed £12.22m. The lead UK scientists are Paul Bell and Christine Gommenginger of the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), Paul Bates of Bristol University and Simon Neill of Bangor University.
Beth said: “I’m so proud of the UK expertise enabling SWOT to be built and calibrated. It is a major new climate mission giving unprecedented data across the globe.
“I encourage Space4Climate members to be ready to analyse and develop the data on Earth’s oceans and inland water for innovative climate services and climate action.”
SWOT Launch schedule
- Tuesday, December 13th Pre Launch SWOT Science Briefing, 8pm UK time on NASA TV.
- Wednesday, December 14th Pre Launch NASA SWOT News Conference, 6pm UK time on NASA TV followed by the SWOT Rollout Show.
- Thursday, December 15th live launch coverage due to start 11.15am UK time nasa.gov/live
- Listing of NASA TV schedule