European Space Agency launches satellite to explore the effects of ...
Darmstadt, Germany - European Space Agency has launched a new high-tech satellite Thursday to measure the effects of global warming on polar ice on Earth and collect data on sea levels, information that could s prove to be crucial for millions on the world's coastlines and islands.
According to ESA, at its European Space Operations Centre in Germany on Thursday it received a signal from CryoSat 2 after takeoff from a rocket launcher from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which means taking off was a success.
'So far, everything went beautifully, "said Volker Liebig, ESA Director for Compliance Programs of the Earth.
In 2005, ESA CryoSat has lost its first when the Rocket Launcher has failed, causing a five-year period of the mission, which has been eagerly awaited by scientists since the late glacial 1990s.
"If anything, this mission is even more important today than a decade ago when we suggested," that changes in the leaves of the Earth's polar ice is accelerating, "said Duncan Wingham, of the University College London, principal investigator for CryoSat.
ESA said the 700-kilogram (1,543 pounds) CryoSat 2 is designed to identify the effects of global warming on the Arctic and Antarctic ice, covering about ten per cent of the Earth's surface and be decisive the Earth's climate.
"The polar regions work like refrigerators in the climate system", the German scientist Heinrich Ice Miller explained. "These areas are really important ones for our climate on Earth."
Scientists know there have been significant changes in the polar regions and summers in recent years have seen record lows in the extent of summer ice cover in the Arctic Sea, the ESA said . But too little is known about the thickness of the ice.
"For the first time, we begin a mission to measure not only the extent, but the thickness of the ice," says Liebig.
Using radar technology is 447 miles (720 kilometers) from the surface of the Earth, CryoSat 2 will measure the thickness of the earth and floating ice and identify changes to 1 inch (0.39-inch) - impressive as the Antarctic Ice Sheet may be up to 3.1 miles (5 km) thick....
