Lake Calado, Amazon

AirSWOT plays a key role in SWOT mission development. It allows scientists to study interferometric data before launch and thus be prepared to effectively interpret SWOT data after launch.

The U.K. Space Agency will provide a part of the radar payload for SWOT.

Visiting Scout uses a color-coded, calibrated stick to determine "sea surface topography" within a wooden box while his sister records his results by placing stickers on a card.

Teams from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and the March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, California, loaded the scientific payload for the SWOT Earth-observing satelli...

The logo for the Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) Mission.

The SWOT satellite observatory is being jointly built by NASA and Centre National D’Études Spatiales (CNES).

A photograph of the Varzea Forest area of Brazil (2 of 4).

Part of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite's science instrument payload sits in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory during assembly.  

An artist’s concept of the SWOT spacecraft (January 2012).

Emblem for the SWOT mission.

SWOT will provide NASA’s first global survey of Earth’s surface water.

Mounted above the Payload Module, the Spacecraft Bus is a multi-purpose platform housing many of the electronics required for the observatory to function, including components for power, propulsion...

Soccer Nets on a levee in the Amazon

Alaska lakes.

Arctic Lakes

Engineers integrate separate parts of the SWOT satellite into one in a Thales Alenia Space clean room facility in Cannes, France.

Canada is home to more than 30,000 lakes including these water bodies in Northern Alberta. The abundance of surface freshwater in Canada makes it a prime target for AirSWOT investigations.

Floodplain Channel in the Amazon

This collaborative mission poster, designed by CNES (French Space Agency), shows the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite soaring over an abstract of a water molecule.

AirSWOT is using parts of Saskatchewan as a testing ground for mapping water levels.

NASA has selected Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for SWOT.

The Canadian Space Agency will contribute to the SWOT Mission by providing a high-power assembly component for SWOT’s Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn).

An artist’s concept of the SWOT spacecraft (February 2015).

An artist’s concept of the SWOT spacecraft (March 2012).

NASA’s Blue Marble