{"id":4226,"date":"2010-01-05T09:29:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-05T09:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/the-parasol-satellite-moving-off-the-a-trains-track\/"},"modified":"2010-01-05T09:29:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-05T09:29:00","slug":"the-parasol-satellite-moving-off-the-a-trains-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/space-station\/the-parasol-satellite-moving-off-the-a-trains-track.php","title":{"rendered":"The PARASOL Satellite Moving Off the A-Train’s Track"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hurricane<\/a>After nearly 5 years of concurrent operations with the Afternoon Constellation, known as the \"A-Train<\/span>,\" the PARASOL satellite<\/span> is going on another orbit \"track<\/span>.\" The A-Train includes a number of NASA satellites<\/span><\/a> that orbit the Earth <\/span>one behind the other on the same track and until this month, PARASOL <\/span>has been part of that train.

PARASOL <\/span>is an Earth <\/span>observation mission, managed by the French Space Agency (CNES<\/span>). PARASOL <\/span>stands for \"Polarization and Anisotropy of Reflectances for Atmospheric Sciences coupled with Observations from a Lidar<\/span>.\" According to CNES<\/span>, it was maneuvered to leave its position inside the A-Train<\/span> at 12:48 UTC, December 2, 2009.<\/p><\/span><\/div>

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\"The<\/a>The A-Train satellite formation currently consists of five satellites flying in close proximity: Aqua, CloudSat, CALIPSO<\/span>, PARASOL <\/span>and Aura<\/span>. Each of these satellites cross the equator within a few minutes of each another at around 1:30 p.m. local time. By combining the different sets of nearly simultaneous observations, scientists are able to gain a better understanding its main mission, studying the important parameters related to climate change. As an additional benefit, the A-Train satellites provide unique information about tropical cyclones, the collective term for tropical depressions, tropical storms, hurricanes and typhoons.

The PARASOL satellite<\/span> has now reached an orbit of 3.9 kilometers (2.4 miles) under the A-train, which will enable it to keep on sharing data periodically with the A-train members, while gradually leaving the A-Train neighborhood. Based on a typical decay of its orbit, it is expected to be completely out of the A-train neighborhood at the end of 2012. The CNES <\/span>team will continue to coordinate operations with the A-Train Mission Operations Working Group to ensure safety.<\/p>

PARASOL<\/span>'s measurement of aerosols is based on polarization, so is unique within the existing A-Train. Its departure leaves a data gap that will be filled when Glory (also a polarization spectrometer) launches in 2010. Cross-calibration between Glory and PARASOL<\/span>, to merge the 2 datasets into a single long-term trending dataset, will take longer with PARASOL <\/span>in a different orbit.<\/p>

\"An<\/a>Steven Platnick, Acting Earth Observing System<\/span> Project Scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. said, \"With its novel combination of polarimetry and multiangle capabilities, PARASOL continues to provide a unique and important perspective on cloud and aerosol properties. More important, as a strong complement to other A-Train instruments<\/span>, POLDER <\/span>has contributed to an unprecedented data set that will be studied for years to come.\"<\/p>

CNES <\/span>launched PARASOL <\/span>into the A-Train orbit in December 2004. For the past five years, PARASOL<\/span>, originally designed to be a 2-year mission, flew within ~30 seconds of the CALIPSO <\/span>and CloudSat satellites<\/span>.<\/p>

For more information about the A-Train and hurricane research, visit:<\/strong>
<\/p><\/span> http:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/mission_pages\/hurricanes\/features\/atrain.html<\/a><\/span>
For more information about PARASOL, visit:<\/strong> http:\/\/smsc.cnes.fr\/PARASOL\/<\/a>
For more information about Aqua, visit:<\/strong> http:\/\/aqua.nasa.gov\/<\/a>
For more information about CloudSat, visit:<\/strong> http:\/\/cloudsat.atmos.colostate.edu\/<\/a>
For more information about CALIPSO, visit:<\/strong> http:\/\/www-calipso.larc.nasa.gov\/<\/a>
For more information about Aura, visit:<\/strong> http:\/\/aura.gsfc.nasa.gov\/<\/a>

View my blog's last three great articles....<\/span>
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