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Cryosat will be rebuilt (Image: BBC) |
The European Space Agency has announced plans to rebuild the lost Cryosat ice-monitoring satellite in the Arctic, just minutes after its launch last year.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has agreed to construct a replica of Cryosat, which cost £95 million.
Initial forecasts suggest that Cryosat-2 could be ready for launch within the next three years.
The mission of Cryosat is to investigate how the Earth’s ice layer responds to climate change, amid increasing evidence that ice in certain regions is thinning.
British scientists involved in the Cryosat project emphasize that it is too important to abandon.
In an article published on the English website of BBC News, Professor Duncan Wingham from University College London stated: “Everyone involved in this project can be proud of their contribution, no matter how small or large, to ensure that Cryosat-2 will have the opportunity to prove itself.”
“For me personally, knowing that this project has support is a great blessing.”
Cryosat went missing in October last year just minutes after being launched from Russia’s Plesetsk Cosmodrome, crashing into the very ocean it was meant to explore.
European ministers agreed in December that launching Cryosat for exploration again would be prioritized; however, the final decision depends on the members of ESA’s Earth Exploration Program.
