The European Space Agency (ESA) is embarking on a Living Planet programme with its first mission CryoSat. This UK-led project will study the shrinkage of the Arctic sea ice and build upon ESA's vast experience in Earth observation programmes, which started with Meteosat and ERS satellites and continues with the Envisat and Metop polar platforms, which were featured at the show yesterday.
The objectives of the Living Planet programme are to develop knowledge about the Earth, preserve its environment and manage the life cycle better. This will involve two series of spacecraft, Earth Explorer and Earth Watch.
CryoSat is the first Earth Explorer spacecraft. The 350kg craft will be launched into near polar orbit in 2002 to obtain high resolution synthetic aperture radar images of surface features on the polar ice. The lead science team will be from University College London.
Using interferometry, combining the radar signals into a 3D view, CryoSat will be able to measure polar ice thickness. Ice floes are typically two to six metres thick but this represents only 10% of the total size of the object.
Studying the ice is also important because it is a vital factor in modelling the global environment, illustrated by the fact that if the Arctic ice cap was to melt and disintegrate, the consequenses would be catastrophic.
Source: Flight Daily News
