Successful Launch of the Jason-3 Satellite

The Jason-3 satellite, built by Thales Alenia Space as prime contractor, was successfully launched by a Falcon 9 rocket (Space X) from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The Jason-3 satellite will be placed into the same orbit as Jason-2, at an altitude of 1,336 kilometres with an inclination of 66 degrees, to provide virtually blanket coverage of all ice-free ocean surfaces. Its weight at launch was 553 kilogrammes, with 550 W of power and pointing accuracy of 0.15° (half-cone). Its mission life is scheduled for 3 years.

Jason-3 will provide a bridge to an operational mission to enable the continuation of multi-decadal ocean topography measurements. Jason 3 will also offer the same ocean measurement accuracy as Jason 2, including near coastal zones, as well as lakes and rivers.

The Jason-3 operational oceanographic mission involves a quadripartite collaboration between the two meteorological organizations Eumetsat and NOAA, acting as the leaders of the program, and CNES and its American counterpart NASA.

Based on the Proteus platform, Jason-3 features the Poseidon-3B altimeter, also developed by Thales Alenia Space in Toulouse. The Poseidon-3B dual-frequency altimeter continues to be the key instrument in this spaceborne observation programme. Included in the core mission, Jason-3 will embark the DORIS precise orbit determination system, an Advanced Microwave Radiometer (AMR), a GPS payload (GPSP), and a Laser Retro-reflector Array (LRA).

“The success of the Jason-3 satellite launch is a major step forward in operational oceanography and Thales Alenia Space is delighted to partner the teams working on climate monitoring. Jason-3 satellite will allow the continuity of high precision ocean topography measurements beyond TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1 and Jason-2, which are now operational in orbit.” said Jean-Loïc Galle, CEO of Thales Alenia Space. “Thales Alenia Space plays an important role in the success of altimetry missions. Most recently, with the contract to build the Copernicus Sentinel-1C and 1D environmental monitoring satellites, we have proved again our expertise through the Europe’s Copernicus program.”