PIA03012: Above Earth 2 (Artist's Concept)
 Mission:  CloudSat
 Spacecraft:  CloudSat
 Product Size:  880 x 594 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  JPL
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA03012.tif (1.57 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA03012.jpg (74.06 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Updated Caption: (View Original Caption)

February 23, 2018
Mission managers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, this week lowered the orbit of the nearly 12-year-old CloudSat satellite following the loss of one of its reaction wheels, which control its orientation in orbit. While CloudSat's science mission will continue, it will no longer fly as part of the Afternoon Constellation, or A-Train -- six Earth-monitoring satellites that fly in a coordinated orbit to advance our understanding of how Earth functions as a system.

CloudSat launched in 2006 to improve understanding of the role clouds play in our climate system.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL

Image Addition Date:
2005-10-05