Artist's impression of the Jason-3 satellite
|
|||||||||||||||||
Names | Joint Altimetry Satellite Oceanography Network – 3 | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mission type | Earth observation | ||||||||||||||||
Operator | NASA, NOAA, CNES, EUMETSAT | ||||||||||||||||
COSPAR ID | 2016-002A | ||||||||||||||||
SATCAT no. | 41240 | ||||||||||||||||
Website | http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/jason-3/ | ||||||||||||||||
Mission duration | Planned: 5 years Elapsed: 1 year, 6 months and 8 days |
||||||||||||||||
Spacecraft properties | |||||||||||||||||
Bus | Proteus | ||||||||||||||||
Manufacturer | Thales Alenia Space | ||||||||||||||||
Launch mass | 553 kg (1,219 lb) | ||||||||||||||||
Dry mass | 525 kg (1,157 lb) | ||||||||||||||||
Power | 550 watts | ||||||||||||||||
Start of mission | |||||||||||||||||
Launch date | January 17, 2016, 18:42:18 | UTC||||||||||||||||
Rocket | Falcon 9 v1.1 | ||||||||||||||||
Launch site | Vandenberg SLC-4E | ||||||||||||||||
Contractor | SpaceX | ||||||||||||||||
Orbital parameters | |||||||||||||||||
Reference system | Geocentric | ||||||||||||||||
Regime | Low Earth | ||||||||||||||||
Semi-major axis | 7,715.8 km (4,794.4 mi) | ||||||||||||||||
Eccentricity | 0.0007824 | ||||||||||||||||
Perigee | 1,331.7 km (827.5 mi) | ||||||||||||||||
Apogee | 1,343.7 km (834.9 mi) | ||||||||||||||||
Inclination | 66.04° | ||||||||||||||||
Period | 112.42 minutes | ||||||||||||||||
RAAN | 98.69° | ||||||||||||||||
Argument of perigee | 268.03° | ||||||||||||||||
Mean anomaly | 91.98° | ||||||||||||||||
Mean motion | 12.81 rev/day | ||||||||||||||||
Repeat interval | 9.92 days | ||||||||||||||||
Epoch | July 16, 2016, 19:55:51 UTC | ||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
Ocean Surface Topography
|
Instruments | |
---|---|
Poseidon-3B Altimeter | |
AMR-2 | Advanced Microwave Radiometer-2 |
DORIS | Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite |
GPSP | Global Positioning System Payload |
LRA | Laser Retroreflector Array |
CARMEN-3 | Characterization and Modeling of Environment-3 |
LPT | Light Particle Telescope |
Jason-3 is an international Earth observation satellite mission that continues the ocean surface height measurements begun in 1992 by the TOPEX/Poseidon mission, followed by Jason-1 launched in 2001 and Jason-2 in 2008.
Jason-3 is the result of a four-agency international partnership consisting of NOAA, NASA, the French Space Agency CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales), and EUMETSAT (the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites). The spacecraft was built by Thales Alenia Space and launched by SpaceX on the 21st Falcon 9 flight.
The science objectives for Jason-3 are:
The satellite was built around a Proteus satellite bus by Thales Alenia Space under contract from CNES. A pair of deployable, tracking solar arrays supply a total of 580 watts of power. Four hydrazine monopropellant thrusters are used for orbital maneuvering. Attitude control is provided by reaction wheels, with magnetorquers used to periodically despin the wheels. Jason-3 weighed about 553 kg (1,219 lb) at launch, with a dry mass of 525 kg (1,157 lb).
Jason-3 carries five main instruments. The primary instrument is the Poseidon-3B Altimeter, which is derived from the Poseidon-3 carried on Jason-2. The other main instruments are Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS), Advanced Microwave Radiometer-2 (AMR-2), Global Positioning System Payload (GPSP), and Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA). Two additional "passenger instruments" are carried as part of the Joint Radiation Experiment. These are CARMEN-3 (Characterization and Modeling of Environment), which measures charged particle flux, and Light Particle Telescope (LPT), which measures radiation and charged particles.