CloudSat

CloudSat
	Artist's Concept of CloudSat
Mission type	Atmospheric research
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	2006-016A
SATCAT no.	29107
Website	CloudSat home page
Mission duration	Planned: 22 months ; Final: 17 years, 11 months, 25 days
Spacecraft properties
Bus	BCP-2000
Manufacturer	Ball Aerospace
Launch mass	700 kg (1,543 lb)
Dimensions	2.54 × 2.03 × 2.29 m (8.3 × 6.7 × 7.5 ft) ; (H × L × W)
Start of mission
Launch date	April 28, 2006, 10:02:16 UTC
Rocket	Delta II 7420-10C
Launch site	Vandenberg, SLC-2W
End of mission
Disposal	Passivated
Deactivated	December 20, 2023, 11:10:30 UTC
Last contact	23 April 2024 (Decommissioned)
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	LEO
Semi-major axis	7,080.59 km (4,399.67 mi)
Eccentricity	0.0000824
Perigee altitude	709 km (441 mi)
Apogee altitude	710 km (440 mi)
Inclination	98.23 degrees
Period	98.83 minutes
RAAN	330.82 degrees
Argument of perigee	91.62 degrees
Mean anomaly	14.57 degrees
Mean motion	14.57
Epoch	25 January 2015, 03:10:38 UTC
Revolution no.	46,515

CloudSat is a Passivated NASA Earth observation satellite, which was launched on a Delta II rocket on April 28, 2006, and is awaiting disposal. It used radar to measure the altitude and properties of clouds, adding to the information on the relationship between clouds and climate to help resolve questions about global warming.^[2]

It operated in daytime-only operations from 2011 to 2023 due to battery malfunction, requiring sunlight to power the radar. On December 20, 2023, the Cloud Profiling Radar was deactivated for the final time, ending the data collection portion of the mission.

The mission was selected under NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder program in 1999. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colorado, designed and built the spacecraft.

CloudSat's primary mission was scheduled to continue for 22 months to allow more than one seasonal cycle to be observed.

^ "CLOUDSAT Satellite details 2006-016A NORAD 29107". N2YO. 25 January 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
^ Stephens, Graeme L.; Vane, Deborah G.; Boain, Ronald J.; Mace, Gerald G.; Sassen, Kenneth; Wang, Zhien; Illingworth, Anthony J.; O'connor, Ewan J.; Rossow, William B.; Durden, Stephen L.; Miller, Steven D.; Austin, Richard T.; Benedetti, Angela; Mitrescu, Cristian (2002). "THE CLOUDSAT MISSION AND THE A-TRAIN: A New Dimension of Space-Based Observations of Clouds and Precipitation". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 83 (12): 1771–1790. doi:10.1175/BAMS-83-12-1771. ISSN 0003-0007.

[n2yo-1] "CLOUDSAT Satellite details 2006-016A NORAD 29107". N2YO. 25 January 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2015.

[bams-2] Stephens, Graeme L.; Vane, Deborah G.; Boain, Ronald J.; Mace, Gerald G.; Sassen, Kenneth; Wang, Zhien; Illingworth, Anthony J.; O'connor, Ewan J.; Rossow, William B.; Durden, Stephen L.; Miller, Steven D.; Austin, Richard T.; Benedetti, Angela; Mitrescu, Cristian (2002). "THE CLOUDSAT MISSION AND THE A-TRAIN: A New Dimension of Space-Based Observations of Clouds and Precipitation". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 83 (12): 1771–1790. doi:10.1175/BAMS-83-12-1771. ISSN 0003-0007.

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