Abstract
PARASOL, second satellite of the CNES microsatellite product line MYRIADE has been successfully launched from Kourou in December 2004. The PARASOL mission purpose is to perform measurements of the polarized and multi-directional reflectances, on ground areas previously observed by the CALIPSO LIDAR. The Laboratoire d’Optique Atmosphérique (LOA-CNRS) in the northern French city of Lille is the PARASOL scientific Principal Investigator. PARASOL is now flying in the so-called A-Train constellation with AQUA and AURA. The constellation will be soon completed with CALIPSO and CLOUDSAT. This spacecraft set will be an exceptional space observatory which will supply an exhaustive data bank dedicated to the climatology forecasts. The PARASOL satellite has been developed by CNES, also in charge of the control centre development, the telemetry and telecommand Earth terminals, some part of the ground mission centre, the image performance expertise and all the in-flight operations. The hereafter paper will present the PARASOL mission and the main characteristics of the satellite, the launch and the ascent phase in coordination with the A-Train. Then it will describe the PARASOL ground segment. The last part will present the first performances analysis.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
