The Delta II rocket with CALIPSO and CloudSat on Launch Pad SLC-2W, VAFB.
CALIPSO
CALIPSO is a joint NASA (USA) and CNES (France) environmental satellite, built in the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center, which was launched atop a Delta II rocket on April 28, 2006. Its name stands for "Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations." It will actively (by laser) measure aerosols and clouds 24 hours a day. CALIPSO will fly in formation in the "A Train" with several other satellites (Aqua, Aura, CloudSat and the French PARASOL).
Instruments
Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) - a lidar that provides high-resolution vertical profiles of aerosols and clouds.
Wide Field Camera (WFC) - a modified version of the commercial off-the-shelf Ball Aerosopace CT-633 star tracker camera. It was selected to match band 1 of the MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite.
Imaging Infrared Radiometer (IIR) - used to detect cirrus cloud emissivity and particle size. The CALIOP is aligned with the center of the IIR image to optimize joint CALIOP/IIR observations. Over one billions laser shots and still going
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