TOPEX/Poseidon

The TOPEX/Poseidon satellite altimeter is a science project to measure the ocean surface topography.

It is a joint project between the CNES (France) and NASA (United States) space agencies.

The program is named after the greek god Poseidon.

It contains two altimeters onboard sharing the same antenna, only one altimeter can be operated at any time, with TOPEX given preference (on average 9 in 10 cycles)

• TOPEX (TOPological EXperiment) :The NASA built Nadir pointing Radar Altimeter using C band and Ku band for measuring height above sea surface.
• Posideon: The CNES built solid state Nadir pointing Radar Altimeter using Ku band.

The successor of TOPEX/Poseidon is Jason 1.

External links

• Official site at CNES
• Official site at NASA