{"id":15775,"date":"2016-01-18T19:12:17","date_gmt":"2016-01-18T11:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/satellite-launched-to-measure-motions-of-the-oceans\/"},"modified":"2016-01-18T19:12:17","modified_gmt":"2016-01-18T11:12:17","slug":"satellite-launched-to-measure-motions-of-the-oceans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/satellite-launched-to-measure-motions-of-the-oceans\/","title":{"rendered":"Satellite launched to measure motions of the oceans"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"SpaceX's
SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 10:42 a.m. PST (1:42 p.m. EST; 1842 GMT) Sunday. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A new satellite built to extend a 24-year series of joint U.S.-European ocean observatories climbed away from a foggy California launch pad and sailed into orbit more than 800 miles above Earth on Sunday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.<\/p>\n

The Jason 3 satellite is kicking off a five-year mission to precisely measure ocean waves, maritime winds, ocean currents and sea level rise for a consortium of scientific institutions in the United States and Europe.<\/p>\n

The spacecraft lifted off at 10:42:18 a.m. PST (1:42:18 p.m. EST; 1842:18 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, the primary U.S. launch site for polar orbiting satellites.<\/p>\n

The 224-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket ascended from its hillside launch pad toward the south-southeast through thick fog that thwarted the views of onlookers who crowded nearby streets to witness the liftoff, the first for SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 at Vandenberg since September 2013.<\/p>\n

Less than an hour later, the rocket\u2019s second stage released the satellite \u2014 assembled in France by Thales Alenia Space \u2014 into an on-target orbit with an average altitude of about 815 miles (1,313 kilometers).<\/p>\n

Jason 3 extended two power-generating solar panels a few minutes later to a span of more than 30 feet (10 meters), and the initial look at telemetry streaming down from the satellite showed it to be in good health following Sunday\u2019s launch.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you can imagine, we are very excited to have launched today,\u201d said Tim Dunn, NASA launch manager for the Jason 3 mission. \u201cThe flight itself, we\u2019ve just done a little bit of data review \u2026 and first stage and second stage performance looks very normal. Could not have asked for a better day.\u201d<\/p>\n

SpaceX\u2019s secondary objective on Sunday\u2019s launch was unsuccessful, when one of four landing legs mounted to the base of the Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s first stage booster did not lock in place, causing the 14-story booster to tip over after touching down on a landing platform in the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

The landing attempt marked the third time SpaceX has tried and failed to recover a Falcon 9 booster intact on an ocean-going barge.<\/p>\n

The company, founded and managed by billionaire Elon Musk, has had better results with landing the rocket on shore. A Falcon 9 rocket launched from Florida returned to Cape Canaveral for a dramatic upright touchdown in December, giving SpaceX its biggest achievement yet in the company\u2019s pursuit of a reusable launch vehicle.<\/p>\n

Musk posted a series of updates on his Twitter account after Sunday\u2019s launch, writing that it is \u201cdefinitely harder to land on a ship.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimilar to an aircraft carrier vs land: much smaller target area, that\u2019s also translating & rotating,\u201d Musk tweeted.<\/p>\n

He also posted a photo of wreckage from the crash landing.<\/p>\n