KSC-05PD-1197

In the Astrotech Payload Processing Facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base, workers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and Ball Aerospace from Boulder, Colo., lower a "hat" toward the CloudSat spacecraft before conducting the Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) functional tests. The hat is used to absorb the RF radiation that is emitted by the instrument during the test. CloudSat will fly in combination with the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) to provide never-before-seen 3-D perspectives of how clouds and aerosols form, evolve, and affect weather and climate. CALIPSO and CloudSat will join three other satellites to enhance understanding of climate systems. The launch date for CALIPSO/ CloudSat is no earlier than Aug. 22.
Credit: NASA