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HomeTech/ScienceNASA launches Jason-3 Spacecraft

NASA launches Jason-3 Spacecraft

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationVandenberg Air Force Base, CA – On January 17th, 2016 at 10:50am PT/12:50pm CT, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base carrying the Jason-3 spacecraft.

NASA launched Jason-3 into orbit for NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the French space agency and EUMETSAT, the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the U.S.-European Jason-3 satellite launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base Space Launch Complex 4 East on Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016. Jason-3, an international mission with NASA participation, will continue a 23-year record of monitoring global sea level rise. (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the U.S.-European Jason-3 satellite launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base Space Launch Complex 4 East on Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016. Jason-3, an international mission with NASA participation, will continue a 23-year record of monitoring global sea level rise. (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

About an hour later, it separated from the rocket and began deploying its two solar arrays.

Jason-3 will add to a 23-year satellite record of global sea surface heights, a measurement with scientific, commercial and practical applications related to climate change, currents and weather. Jason-3 data will be used for monitoring global sea level rise, researching human impacts on oceans, aiding prediction of hurricane intensity, and operational marine navigation.

The mission is planned to last at least three years, with a goal of five years. It is a four-agency international partnership of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA, the French Space Agency CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales), and EUMETSAT (the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites).

For more information about the mission, visit:

http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/jason-3/

http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/jason3/

NOAA, in collaboration with the European partners, is responsible for the Jason-3 mission. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is responsible for Jason-3 project management. NASA’s Launch Services Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida provides launch management. SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, is NASA’s launch service provider of the Falcon 9 rocket.

Video – Liftoff of Jason-3 Spacecraft

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3BRi7XcELM[/youtube]

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