Arctic

Floodplain Channel in the Amazon

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...

SWOT's nominal coverage during its 3-year science orbit will include measurements between 78°N and 78°S collected over a period of 21 days. Maps show the coverage after 3 days (left) and the full 2...

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

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

A diagram illustrating the swaths of data that SWOT will collect. 

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.

This SWOT "Bannerbug" exhibit was created for display during hardware tests conducted during an eleven-day period in October 2008.

A Flooded Forest in the Amazon

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.  

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).

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

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

An early rendering of the SWOT spacecraft (February 2011).

SWOT is being jointly developed by NASA and Centre National D’Études Spatiales (CNES).

An image of the original concept for the Water and Terrestrial Elevation Recovery (WATER) Mission, which later became SWOT.

Siberian Lakes

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

An alternate 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).

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.

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 (2 of 4).

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

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...