CALIPSO
Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (NASA / CNES)
Mission concluded · 2023- Operator
- NASA Langley Research Center & CNES
- Launched
- April 28, 2006
- Science operations ended
- 2023 (after 17 years on orbit)
- Mission type
- Earth observation — atmospheric lidar / aerosols and clouds
- Constellation
- Flew as part of NASA's "A-Train" with Aqua, Aura, CloudSat, and PARASOL
CALIPSO — Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations — was a joint NASA / CNES Earth-observation satellite launched on April 28, 2006. Its payload of active and passive remote-sensing instruments — most notably a two-wavelength polarization-sensitive lidar — provided 24-hour-a-day measurements of the vertical structure of clouds and atmospheric aerosols.
CALIPSO flew as part of NASA's "A-Train" satellite constellation, in formation with Aqua, Aura, CloudSat, and the French PARASOL. The mission far exceeded its three-year planned lifetime, ultimately delivering seventeen years of on-orbit observations before concluding science operations in 2023.
Its data fundamentally improved scientific understanding of how clouds and aerosols influence Earth's climate, weather, and air quality.