The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded Astrium the contract to build the $61 million CryoSat remote-sensing satellite. CryoSat will be launched on a three-year mission in 2004 to measure the thickness of ice-sheets and polar ocean sea-ice cover. CryoSat, the first Earth Explorer mission in ESA's Living Planet programme, will probably be launched by a Eurockot Rockot booster from Plesetsk, Russia. The satellite will be placed into a 720km (450-mile) polar orbit, and will be equipped with a double radar scanner.
Source: Flight International
