The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite was launched into Earth orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Central California on Friday, December 16, and engineers are working to prepare the mission to begin measuring water heights above more than 90 percent of Earth. surface. It’s the Earth’s surface that provides a high-resolution image of our planet’s water for the first time.

But before it can do that, the satellite must deploy the large mast and antenna arrays after successfully deploying the solar panel arrays that power the spacecraft. The mission monitors and controls the satellite using telemetry data, but also equips the spacecraft with four specialized commercial cameras to record the action.

The solar panels were fully unfolded shortly after launch, which took about 10 minutes.

Two cameras on the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite imaged the large mast and antenna arrays of the spacecraft’s main science instrument for four days, a process that was completed on December 22, 2022. Opening from opposite directions of the spacecraft, the masts can be seen exiting the spacecraft and locking into place, but the cameras did not capture the fully deployed antennas at the ends of the masts (a milestone confirmed by team telemetry). This video features two cameras side by side. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/CNES Antennas were successfully deployed over four days and the process was completed Dec 22. Focusing on the KarIn antenna, the two cameras captured the mast protruding from the spacecraft and locking into place, but not the fully deployed antennas.

Two antennas at each end of the mast, thirty-three feet (10 meters) apart, belong to the revolutionary Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KarIn). Designed to accurately measure the height of water in Earth’s freshwater bodies and the ocean, Karin will be able to see geysers, currents and other ocean features from less than 13 miles (20 kilometers). It will also collect data on lakes and reservoirs larger than 15 acres (62,500 square meters) and rivers wider than 330 feet (100 meters).

Karin will do this by reflecting radar pulses from the water surface on Earth and receiving signals with both of these antennas, collecting data 30 miles (50 kilometers) wide on either side of the satellite. The data provided by SWOT will help researchers and decision makers address some of the most pressing climate challenges of our time and prepare communities for global warming.