News

24.04.2012 14:30 Age: 12 yrs

[jason-1]: Status Update

Category: Operational news

The Jason-1 project teams at CNES and NASA/JPL have now completed all prerequisite tasks required to enable a safe recovery of the mission from the safe hold it has been in since 3 March 2012.

On Monday, 23 April, CNES began to command the satellite into a nadir orientation and have then began the restart of payload instruments on Tuesday, 24 April. CNES and NASA management, through the Joint Steering Group, have directed the Jason-1 Project to then begin a series of maneuvers to reduce the orbit semi-major axis by 12.6 km. This will place Jason-1 into a new long-repeat orbit at roughly 1323.4 km altitude. The exact “geodetic orbit” parameters will be forwarded to you in the near future. If all mission operations proceed as planned and no new anomalies are encountered, the Project expects to resume Jason-1 science and operational data delivery by 4 May 2012. The move from the altimetry reference orbit has been a difficult decision to take, but it also signals the start of an exciting new chapter in the extraordinary mission of Jason-1.