MISSIONS - TOPEX/Poseidon  Launched in 1992, TOPEX/Poseidon is a joint venture between CNES and NASA to map ocean surface topography. While a 3-year prime mission was planned, with a 5-year store of expendables, TOPEX/Poseidon has delivered an astonishing 10+ years of data from orbit. In these 10+ years, it has:
- Measured sea levels with unprecedented accuracy to better than 5 cm
- Continuously observed global ocean topography
- Monitored effects
of currents on global climate change and produced the first global views of seasonal changes of currents
- Monitored large-scale ocean features like Rossby and Kelvin waves and studied such phenomena as El Niño, La Niña, and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation
- Mapped basin-wide current variations and provided global data to validate models of ocean circulation
- Mapped year-to-year changes in heat stored in the upper ocean
- Produced the most accurate global maps of tides ever
- Improved our knowledge of Earth's gravity field
What's New  TOPEX/Poseidon 12 Years of Service (08/10/04) August 10, 2004: Originally designed for three to five years, the TOPEX/Poseidon spacecraft is still providing valuable ocean altimetry data 12 years later!
TOPEX/Poseidon Tandem Mission Orbit Maneuvers (08/28/02)
 Three propulsive maneuvers to move TOPEX/Poseidon to a new Tandem Mission orbit were successfully executed on August 15, 19, and 23. There are three maneuvers scheduled in mid-September to complete the orbit transfer campaign. These maneuvers will place TOPEX/Poseidon in an orbital position halfway between that of Jason-1. In this new formation flying configuration, the two satellites will increase global data coverage twofold, bringing us that much closer to uncovering some of the ocean clues in smaller scale circulation features like eddies, and to solving the global climate puzzle.
Watch the Tandem Mission Flash animation
Celebrating Ten Years of Ocean Observations (08/10/02)
View the Flash Animation
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When it turns 10, Topex/Poseidon will have made 46,763 trips around Earth measuring the height of the oceans to within 4 centimeters (less than 2 inches). Since launch, it will have faithfully provided more than 98 percent of the science data it was designed to collect despite technical and mechanical challenges, and its advancing years.
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Where is it now? (07/22/02)  Find out where TOPEX/Poseidon is right now. To find out the best times to view it in your area, follow the directions on the Missions page.
Nine Year Anniversary of TOPEX/Poseidon (8/10/01)
 Like "The Little Engine That Could," TOPEX/Poseidon just keeps chugging along in orbit taking the pulse of our oceans. August 10 marks the 9th anniversary of the launch of this remarkable satellite, which has revolutionized our understanding of the oceans. Circling Earth every 112 minutes, the satellite has run it's familiar course over 42,000 times in the 9 years it's been flying.
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