The climatology satellite Calipso (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations) left Alcatel Space‘s wallson May 18 for transport to the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Launch is scheduled for this summer on a Delta 2 launcher, along with the Cloudsat satellite.

Calipso will be used for understanding the Earth’s climatic system and predict global changes. It will supply a unique set of data on vertical atmosphere profiles, using the first satellite-mounted backscatter LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging).

This climatology mission is a joint program of NASA and the French space agency CNES, with Alcatel Space and Ball Aerospace as the main industry partners.

Calipso is part of a global climate study program and will be flying in formation with two American missions, Aqua and Cloudsat, along with the French microsatellite, Parasol.