Friday April 28th 2006, the Calipso satellite and the U.S. CloudSat cloud-observing and climate monitoring satellite were launched by a Delta 2 rocket at 3:02 a.m. PDT from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Alcatel Alenia Space was responsible for the satellite platform and the spacecraft-payload integration. Calipso marks a new step forward in French-U.S. cooperation in Earth observation and sustainable development - a focus of major efforts in France and the United States.

Once stationed in near-Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 705 km, its mission will be to locate clouds and aerosols, determine their altitude and optical properties, and measure their radioactive impacts on Earth’s climate. The international scientific community considers that a better understanding of clouds and the composition of atmospheric aerosols will allow us to model our planet’s climate and climate change more accurately.

During its 3 year life time, Calipso will provide a unique dataset on the vertical distribution of clouds and aerosols, to be measured by the first spaceborne backscatter lidar (LIght Detection And Ranging, a sort of laser radar).

Calipso is the result of a close cooperation between the French Space Agency (CNES), the American NASA and Alcatel Alenia Space
”Our teams worked together on this program for over three years. Our American colleagues stayed in Cannes throughout the integration phase. Teamwork, dedication and expertise were our common drivers during this project.

"Many thanks to the team” says Michel Jourdan, Calipso program manager. The cooperation with CNES and NASA started with the development of a low orbit multimission platform called PROTEUS (a reconfigurable platform for observation, telecom and science missions) and the launch of Jason-1, in December 2001. Calipso is the second low-orbit minisatellite developed using the Proteus platform.