The CALIPSO mission, a joint endeavor between NASA and CNES (the French space agency), has concluded its 17-year journey of scrutinizing Earth’s atmosphere. CALIPSO, short for “Cloud-Aerosol LIDAR and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations,” was launched in 2006 as a satellite-based observatory dedicated to understanding how clouds and aerosols influence our planet’s climate. Equipped with the groundbreaking CALIOP lidar instrument, it emitted laser pulses to measure light scattered by clouds and aerosols, constructing 3D atmospheric models for climate change predictions. CALIPSO was a vital component of the “A-Train” constellation, alongside Aqua, Aura, and PARASOL, collectively studying Earth’s weather and environment. This mission leaves behind a legacy of over 10 billion LIDAR measurements and numerous scientific reports.
Facts/Terms for UPSC Prelims
- CALIOP (Cloud-Aerosol LIDAR with Orthogonal Polarization): CALIOP is a pivotal instrument aboard CALIPSO, employing lidar technology to measure cloud and aerosol properties like height, thickness, and optical depth. It contributed to long-term atmospheric measurements from Earth’s orbit.
- A-Train: The A-Train refers to a group of Earth-observing satellites, including CALIPSO, Aqua, Aura, and PARASOL, that work in tandem to gather comprehensive data on Earth’s weather and environmental conditions.
- CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales): CNES is the French space agency, and it collaborated with NASA on the CALIPSO mission, reflecting international cooperation in space exploration.
- Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging): Lidar is a remote sensing technology that employs laser light to measure distances and properties of objects or particles in the atmosphere, such as clouds and aerosols.
- Optical Depth: Optical depth is a measure of how effectively a substance, like clouds or aerosols, scatters or absorbs light. In the context of CALIPSO, it was used to assess the density and properties of these atmospheric components.