CALIPSO

CALIPSO = Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation

Designation	29108 / 06016B
Launch date	28 Apr 2006 - 10:02 UT
Launch site	Va, SLC-2W
Launch vehicle	Delta-7420-10C
Mission	Government: Eart Science / Rem Sensing
Sun-Synchronous LEO Earth orbit on:
Perigee / Apogee	701 x 704 km
Eccentricity	2.12E-04
Inclination	98.23°
Period	98.83 min

Prime contractor	Alcatel Alenia Space (FR)
Operator	Centre National d'Etudes Spatiale (CNES)/NASA
Platform	Proteus bus
Mass at launch	587 kg
Dry Mass	kg
Basic shape
Dimension (m)
Solar array
Stabilization
DC power	550 W
Design lifetime	3 yrs

CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations), formerly named PICASSO-CENA (Pathfinder Instrument for Cloud and Aerosol Spaceborne Obeservation - Climatologie Etendue des Nuages et des Aerosols), features a 2-wavelength ( 532 nm and 1064 nm) polarization-sensitive Lidar as the main instrument to measure aerosol & cloud properties needed to improve climate predictions and as secondary instruments an Imaging Infrared Radiometer (IIR) and a Wide field Camera (WFC).
CALIPSO takes advantage of the experience gained from the Lidar In-space Technology Experiment (LITE), which was developed by NASA-Langley Research Center and flew on the Space Shuttle in 1994. LITE provided the first demonstration of the capabilities of lidar to observe aerosols and clouds from space.

Ref.: #7, #14, #98a, #226, #242 - update: 22.01.10