Jason 3 Jason 3 About Mission Objectives
Jason-3 is a follow-on altimetric mission to the very successful TOPEX/Poseidon mission, Jason-1 and Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM)/Jason-2. It is a joint mission between NASA and CNES (French space agency). It launched 17 January 2016 and began data collection on 12 February 2016. Jason-3 is capable of measuring significant wave height, sigma naught (sigma0), dry and wet troposphere and ionosphere, which can be used to calculate sea surface height, sea surface height anomalies, and total electron content.
Instruments
Poseidon-3b – Dual frequency radar altimeter that measures in the Ku (13.575 GHz) and C (5.3 GHz). It measures altimeter range, sigma0, significant wave height and ionospheric correction.DORIS – Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositiong by Satellite is a Precise Orbit Determination (POD) system. It receives at the 401.25 MHz and 2036.25 MHz frequencies. It is used for the all weather global tracking and calculates the orbit ephemeris.AMR – Advance Microwave Radiometer measures the 18.7 GHz, 23.8 GHz and 34.0 GHz sea surface microwave brightness temperatures. The 18.7 GHz channel provides the wind induced effects in the sea surface background emissions correction. The 23.8 GHz channel measures water vapor. The 34.0 GHz channel measures the cloud liquid water to be corrected. All together the three frequencies provide the error in the satellite range measurement caused by pulse delay due to water vapor.LRA – Laser Retroreflector Array supports the calibration and validation for the POD.GPSP – GPS Payload receiver. It provides supplementary position data to support the POD function and to improve gravity field models.CARMEN-3 Radiation Detectors – CNES instrument that measures high energy particles that could disrupt the DORIS oscillator and create drifts.LPT – Light Particle Telescope. Provided by JAXA, measures radiation to complement that measured by DORIS.T2L2 – Time Transfer by Laser Link. CNES instrument for precise time transfer used to monitor the clock in DORIS.
Mission Characteristics
Semi-Major Axis
7,714.43 km
Eccentricity
0.000095
Inclination
66.04°
Argument of Periapsis
90.0°
Inertial longitude of the ascending node
116.56°
Mean Anomaly
253.13°
Reference Altitude
1,336 km
Nodal Period
6,745.72 sec
Repeat Period
9.9156 days
Number of revolutions within a cycle
127
Number of passes within a cycle
254
Equatorial cross track separation
315 km
Ground track control band
+1 km
Acute angle at Equator crossings
39.5°
Longitude of Equator crossing of pass 1, cycles 1-365
99.9249°
Longitude of Equator crossing of pass 1, cycles 369-onward
98.5°
Inertial nodal rate
-2.08°/day
Orbital speed
7.2 km/s
Ground track speed
5.8 km/s
Related Links
Array
