(AGENPARL) – mer 07 dicembre 2022 December 07, 2022
MEDIA ADVISORY M22-182
NASA Sets Coverage for SWOT Water Survey Mission Launch
[An artist’s concept of the SWOT spacecraft. The SWOT mission will measure the height of the world’s ocean, rivers, and lakes, helping scientists to measure how fresh and saltwater bodies change over time.](https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/swot_for_advisory.jpg)
swot_for_advisory.jpg
An artist’s concept of the SWOT spacecraft. The SWOT mission will measure the height of the world’s ocean, rivers, and lakes, helping scientists to measure how fresh and saltwater bodies change over time. Credits: NASA
NASA will provide coverage of the upcoming prelaunch and launch activities for the international Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission.
The mission is targeted for liftoff at 6:46 a.m. EST (3:46 a.m. PST) Thursday, Dec. 15, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Watch coverage on the agency’s website at:
https://www.nasa.gov/live
SWOT will [survey nearly all water](mailto:https://youtu.be/fi4qY7Z5ZKo) on Earth’s surface for the first time, measuring the height of the world’s oceans, rivers, and lakes, helping scientists track how fresh and saltwater bodies change over time. The satellite will help scientists investigate how the oceans absorb atmospheric heat and carbon, moderating global temperatures and climate change.
Using SWOT’s [state-of the-art technology](https://swot.jpl.nasa.gov/resources/159/how-swot-will-work/), scientists will observe ocean features with 10 times the resolution of current technologies along with providing high-definition views of freshwater bodies. It can observe the entire length of nearly all rivers wider than 330 feet (100 meters), as well as collect data on more than a million lakes larger than 15 acres (62,500 square meters).
A global inventory of water resources will help scientists better understand where the water is, where it’s coming from, and where it’s going. The observations will benefit people on Earth by helping improve flood forecasts, improving the models used to monitor droughts and improving predictions for sea level rise. The observations also will benefit industries, like shipping, by providing measurements of water levels along rivers, as well as information about tides, currents, and storm surges in the ocean.
The mission is a collaborative effort by NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the UK Space Agency.
Full mission coverage is as follows:
Tuesday, Dec. 13
– Katherine Calvin, chief scientist and senior climate advisor, NASA
– Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, SWOT program scientist, NASA
– Tamlin Pavelsky, SWOT hydrology science lead, University of North Carolina
– Benjamin Hamlington, research scientist, Sea Level and Ice Group, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
– Selma Cherchali, Earth observation program head, CNES
Wednesday, Dec. 14
– Karen St. Germain, Earth Science Division director, NASA
– Thierry Lafon, SWOT project manager, CNES
– Tim Dunn, launch director, NASA’s Launch Services Program
– Julianna Scheiman, civil satellite missions director, SpaceX
– Parag Vaze, SWOT project manager, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
– Capt. Zack Zounes, launch weather officer, U.S. Space Force
NASA TV Launch Coverage
NASA TV live coverage will begin at 6 a.m. EST (3 a.m. PST) Thursday, Dec. 15. For NASA TV downlink information, schedules, and links to streaming video, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/live
Audio only of the news conferences and launch coverage will be carried on the NASA “V” circuits, which may be accessed by dialing 321-867-1220, -1240, or 7135. On launch day, “mission audio,” countdown activities without NASA TV launch commentary, will be carried on 321-867-7135. A “tech feed” of the launch without NASA TV commentary will be carried on the NASA TV media channel.
Follow countdown coverage on the SWOT launch blog at:
https://blogs.nasa.gov/swot/
Public Participation
Watch, Engage Online
For more information about SWOT, visit:
https://swot.jpl.nasa.gov/
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Press Contacts
Tylar Greene
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0030
Leejay Lockhart
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-747-8319