8 April 2010 - The European Space Agency's CryoSat ice mission is scheduled for launch this afternoon at 15:57 CEST (14:57 BST). Live web streaming starts approx 22 minutes earlier on the ESA website.
The CryoSat-2 satellite will be launched on a Russian Dnepr rocket from an underground silo at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Dnepr rocket will place the 700kg CryoSat-2 spacecraft into orbit 700 km above the Earth.
CryoSat-2 carries the first all-weather microwave radar altimeter, designed to determine changes in the thickness both of floating sea ice (up to several metres) and polar land ice sheets (close to 5 km thick in Antarctica). The mission will deliver data on the rate of change of the ice thickness accurate to within a centimetre.
CryoSat-2's launch was originally scheduled for 25 February, but had to be postponed because of a problem with the fuel reserve in the launcher's second stage.
The first CryoSat spacecraft unfortunately crashed into the Arctic Ocean and was destroyed shortly after it launched on 8 October 2005, due to an unusual launch rocket malfunction.
Update: The CryoSat-2 satellite launched successfully on schedule at 15:57 CEST and is now safely in orbit.
The CryoSat-2 satellite will be launched on a Russian Dnepr rocket from an underground silo at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Dnepr rocket will place the 700kg CryoSat-2 spacecraft into orbit 700 km above the Earth.
CryoSat-2 carries the first all-weather microwave radar altimeter, designed to determine changes in the thickness both of floating sea ice (up to several metres) and polar land ice sheets (close to 5 km thick in Antarctica). The mission will deliver data on the rate of change of the ice thickness accurate to within a centimetre.
CryoSat-2's launch was originally scheduled for 25 February, but had to be postponed because of a problem with the fuel reserve in the launcher's second stage.
The first CryoSat spacecraft unfortunately crashed into the Arctic Ocean and was destroyed shortly after it launched on 8 October 2005, due to an unusual launch rocket malfunction.
Update: The CryoSat-2 satellite launched successfully on schedule at 15:57 CEST and is now safely in orbit.