Flying tandem
Image of the Month - May 2003
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Since September 15, 2002, Topex/Poseidon has been on a new orbit, midway between its original ground tracks, now occupied by Jason-1. Paired operation of these two dedicated satellites with the same design, cross-calibrated, yields data every 10 days, acquired from parallel orbits 158 kilometers apart at the equator. The two satellites deliver equivalent performance and their orbits are synchronous, which give us a much better spatial resolution.
This scientific tandem shows the possibilities of a constellation of optimized altimetric satellites.
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