SWOT’s first echo over the ocean

SWOT mission is proceeding nominally and on January 16th the POSEIDON-3C altimeter gave the first waveform data.

Poseidon-3C nadir altimeter first Ku-band waveforms (Credit Cnes)

After its successful launch in December 2022, SWOT mission is proceeding nominally.  The “Jason 4” payload is active, and indeed DORIS, the POSEIDON-3C altimeter, the radiometer and the JPL GPS payload are functional and the first data are as expected soon. 

In particular, SWOT-Nadir (altimeter type Jason 4 – POSEIDON-3C) has been switched on the 16th of January, no problems were reported, and it sent back to Earth a first echo over the ocean (see picture)!

The KaRIn instrument will be started up by the end of the week, and this will be the first full-scale test of end-to-end data transmission chain.

In terms of user-side applications, oceanographic acquisition is planned to start the 22nd of March. Some maps may be available if the tuning of on-board parameters will converge quickly. SSH products will be delivered at the end of 2023.