CryoSat recovery mission, CryoSat-2 – expected to be launched in March 2009.

– Background =>

We were already stated in one of our previous news that Climate predictions suggested the sea ice around the North Pole could disappear entirely by the end of the century, at least in summer.

Remember what we were saying >>

Besides scientists still don’t have a detailed picture of sea ice thickness across the Arctic.

The European Space Agency mission is designed to obtain definitive data on the rates at which the planet’s white caps are shrinking.

Cryosat spacecraft (version 1) was designed as the first satellite to measure the volume of sea ice over the Arctic and to map the ice sheets in unprecedented accuracy.

– Cryosat mission – 8th October 2005 – view archive news =>

The European Space Agency (ESA) indicates that “the launch of the CryoSat spacecraft (version 1) was unfortunately aborted on 8 October 2005 due to a malfunction of its Rockot launcher, which resulted in the total loss of the spacecraft”.

– CryoSat recovery mission, CryoSat-2 =>

Cryosat-2 has the same mission goals as the original one:

“it will monitor the thickness of land ice and sea ice and help explain the connection between the melting of the polar ice and the rise in sea levels and how this is contributing to climate change”.

Full coverage news under the European Space Agency (ESA) website : GO >>

Scientists will be able then to examine the role of the atmosphere, ocean and winds in redistributing ice in the Arctic Ocean from year to year.