Successful
Launch:
Earth
Observation
Satellite
Cryosat-2
April
8,
2010
A
Russian
Dnepr
rocket
successfully
launched
today
at
9:57
(DST)
from
the
Baikonur
Cosmodrome
in
Kazakhstan
carrying
on
its
board
the
satellite
CryoSat-2.
CryoSat-2,
a
European
Space
Agency
(ESA)
satellite
will
be
placed
into
orbit
700
km
above
the
Earth
and
measure
the
change
and
thickness
of
ice
in
the
Arctic.
Through
partial
funding
provided
by
the
Canadian
Space
Agency
(CSA),
Canadian
scientists
and
researchers
will
contribute
to
this
mission
by
analyzing
and
validating
data
captured
by
the
satellite.
CryoSat-2,
the
most
sophisticated
satellite
ever
developed
to
study
the
Earth’s
ice
fields,
will
take
20
000
measurements
per
second
over
the
next
three
years.
The
mission
will
deliver
data
on
the
rate
of
change
of
the
ice
thickness
with
an
accuracy
of
within
one
centimetre.
