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Thales Alenia Delivers Two Altimeters to ISS Reshetnev

ThalesAlenia Space of France has delivered two satellite altimeters, called Sadko, to satellite prime contractor ISS Reshetnev of Russia for integration onto Russia’s Geo-IK-2 satellites to study Earth’s gravity field and tidal phenomena, according to ISS Reshetnev and European industry officials.

ThalesAlenia Space builds ocean-topography altimeters for the U.S.-European Jason satellite series and is under contract to provide similar gear for Europe’s Sentinel 3 satellite. These payloads will form part of a growing constellation of ocean surface-topography missions to include the Saral/Altika satellite from France and India, China’s HY-2A and HY-2B satellites, Europe’s Cryosat-2 and the U.S. Geosat Follow-on-2 spacecraft.

The United States and France are working on a SWOT, or surface water ocean topography, satellite with a tentative launch date of 2016. European governments hope to continue the Jason series with a mission called Jason-CS using a satellite platform derived from Europe’s Cryosat program.