UNITED STATES: NASA is funding the worldwide satellite mission, which will start on December 15 from southern California and map the world’s surface water resources more accurately than ever before.
The first comprehensive examination of the world’s oceans, lakes, and rivers will be conducted as part of a significant earth science endeavour.
NASA gears up for SWOT Mission
The mission is known as Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT), according to NASA. It will offer a three-dimensional perspective of rivers, lakes, and oceans that is exceptionally comprehensive.
The space agency continued, “SWOT promises to enhance our comprehension of the Earth’s water cycle and the contribution of oceans to climate change, as well as assist us better address drought and flooding.”
To better understand the amount of freshwater that is accessible, the risk of flooding, and how climate change operates, SWOT will provide researchers with measurements of the volume of water that is flowing and changing.
SWOT is slated to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Thursday before daybreak from the Vandenberg US Space Force Base, located about 170 miles (275 km) northwest of Los Angeles.
According to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the mission, which has been in development for nearly 20 years, will use cutting-edge microwave radar technology to collect height-surface data of oceans, lakes, reservoirs, and rivers in high-definition detail over 90% of the earth.
One of the mission’s key objectives is to investigate how oceans absorb atmospheric heat and carbon dioxide as a natural mechanism that reduces global temperatures and delays climate change.
The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the Los Angeles area created and constructed the satellite. NASA and France’s Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales collaborated on SWOT, with support from the Canadian Space Agency and UK Space Agency.
Also Read: SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Rocket Launched UAE Rover and Japanese Lander
