Cloudsat

Also called ESSP 4 or P00-4

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General

Designation	29107 / 06016A
Launch date	28 Apr 2006
Country of origin	United States
Operator	NASA JPL
Mission	Remote sensing
Perigee/Apogee	705 km, sun synchronous
Inclination	98.2°
Period
Launch vehicle	Delta 2 #314

Part of the ESSP (Earth System Science Pathfinder) program. Should cost $135 million

CloudSat use advanced cloud-profiling radar to provide information on the vertical structure of highly dynamic tropical cloud systems. This new radar enables measurements of cloud properties for the first time on a global basis, revolutionizing our understanding of cloud-related issues. Built with Colorado State University.

Went operational on 2 Jun 2006. Working perfectly in Apr 2007. Part of the "A train".
After the loss of a reaction wheel the satellite removed from the "A train" in Feb 2018 and its orbit lowered.

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External resources

sat-index articles

http://cloudsat.atmos.colostate.edu/

http://www.nasa.gov/cloudsat/

Technical data

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Specifications

Prime contractor	Ball Aerospace
Platform	BCP-2000
Mass at launch
Dry mass	999 kg
Payload pass	250 kg
Dimension
Solar array
Stabilization
DC power	700 W
Design lifetime	2 years

24 Gbit data storage

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Payload

94 GHz Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR)

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