Arctic Lakes

A photograph of the Amazon River Delta, captured by Landsat in 2006.

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

Floodplain Channel in the Amazon

Crowds flock to the Earth Sciences exhibits during the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) "Open House" event, giving volunteers (red shirts) a chance to share information about their various miss...

Artist's impression of the future SWOT satellite making sea surface height observations, even through clouds.

A photograph of the Varzea Forest area of Brazil (1 of 4).

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

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

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.

Arctic

Lake Calado, Amazon

Disappearing lakes in Barrow, Alaska.

Highly visible in their red shirts, SWOT project team members - including Project Manager Parag Vaze at left - interact with the public during the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) "Open House" ...

A photograph of the Varzea Forest area of Brazil (3 of 4).

SWOT will collect data across a 75-mile (120-kilometer) wide swath, with a gap in the center for an altimetry track. This animation shows the collection of data over the state of Florida, which is ...

The first 90 days of the SWOT science mission will be flown in a "fast-sampling" phase that revisits specific areas once per day. This phase will begin after a 90-day commissioning phase for engine...

The SWOT Payload module consists of two primary components: the Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn) and the Nadir module.

A view of SWOT from inside a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft, as it was being loaded en route to Thales Alenia Space near Cannes, France.

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...

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

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

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

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

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.

A banner explaining the purpose of the SWOT mission, created and displayed during testing.