TOPEX/Poseidon Artist's Concept

Jason-1: TRSR instrument

Jason-1: First Image

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich spacecraft lifts off from Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Nov. 21, 2020, at 9:17 a.m. PST

For NASA JPL engineer Parag Vaze, studying Earth’s rising ocean has been a career three decades in the making.

OSTM/Jason-2 Radiometer Antenna

Jason-1: LRA instrument

Sea Level

Jason-1 readies for launch in its bay at Vandenberg, AFB (10/31/01)

Ionospheric Total Electron Content

Inside half of the Delta Clam shell faring

The Antonov cargo aircraft carrying the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite touches down on the runway at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Sept. 24, 2020.

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, topped with the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite secured inside its payload fairing, is rolled to Space Launch Complex 4

To provide scientists with essential information about global and regional changes in the seas, NASA will launch the Jason-3 satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

t - 7 minutes - Photo: Tom Shain

Oceans' Role in Climate - Jason-1

Poseidon-3 Altimeter

Jason-3

OSTM/Jason-2 Artist's Concept

Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich will join a long-standing family of Earth observing satellites from NASA and European partners.

Jason-1 readies for launch in its bay at Vandenberg, AFB (10/31/01)

OSTM/Jason-2 Artist's Concept

Jason-3

Jason-3 3D Model

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich spacecraft lifts off from Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Nov. 21, 2020, at 9:17 a.m. PST

Launch preparations are progressing! (11/21/01) Photos: Stacy Mitchell of John Hopkins APL/TIMED project