After its last transmitter failed, the ocean-observing satellite Jason-1 was decommissioned by NASA, a press release from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced Wednesday.
The satellite was a joint project between NASA and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) in France. The satellite was launched in 2001 and was only designed to last for three to five years, so the 11 1/2-year mission survived much longer than scientists had originally planned. Jason-1 helped to create a revolutionary climate record of the ocean, mapping sea level, wind speed and wave height for over 95 percent of Earth's ice free ocean every 10 days. The mission helped scientists better understand ocean circulation, climate change and weather forecasting.
John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, described the mission as a total success, citing the accomplishments of the satellite over the decade that it was deployed and noting that it continued to observe the world's oceans much longer than originally anticipated.
Jason-1 charted 1.6 inches of sea level rise over its lifetime, a direct result of climate change and a critical measure of the impact of that change. Jason-1 provided the most accurate measurement of rising sea levels, and with its decommissioning NASA will turn to its successor for the time being to keep tabs on the world's water levels.
Jason-2 was launched in 2008, and along with Jason-1′s predecessor the three satellites made careful orbits around one another during the time they were all commissioned. The new satellite will take over the important job of monitoring the sea levels as climate change continues to impact our world.
Along with the European Space Agency's Envisat mission, the Jason-2 satellite will be able to monitor smaller-scale ocean circulation phenomena, such as coastal tides. These phenomenon are thought to be partially responsible for transporting and mixing heat and other properties within the ocean, potentially impacting climate change and its effects on the global population.
Scientists lost contact with the satellite on June 21, and efforts to reestablish contact failed, The Associated Press reports. On Monday, Jason-1 was given orders to turn off its attitude control system. It will slowly turn away from the sun and its solar-powered batteries will fail over the next 90 days. However, as with most space tools, the satellite will remain in orbit long after its demise; scientists at NASA estimate that Jason-1 will remain in orbit for another 1,000 years before it falls back into Earth's atmosphere.
