ESA’s CRISTAL ice satellite enters testing ahead of planned 2027 launch

Europe’s CRISTAL ice-monitoring satellite has completed assembly and passed its first solar-panel deployment test, moving into a lengthy programme of checks ahead of a planned launch in late 2027 or early 2028, the European Space Agency says.

Engineers finished assembling the satellite in September at Airbus facilities in Friedrichshafen, Germany. The deployment test checked that the solar panels’ mechanisms and control software work together; further testing will assess whether the spacecraft can withstand launch and the conditions of space.

CRISTAL will travel to ESA’s Netherlands establishment for environmental testing, where it is expected to spend most of next year. ESA project manager Kristof Gantois said the satellite had passed the tests so far and thanked the teams involved.

The mission is designed to measure sea-ice thickness, the depth of snow covering sea ice and the elevation of ice sheets. It will carry a dual-frequency radar altimeter and a microwave radiometer, and is intended to continue long-term records of ice elevation and topographic change for at least two decades.

CRISTAL is part of the Copernicus programme’s expansion of Earth-observation missions. ESA plans a second satellite, CRISTAL-B, to launch towards the end of CRISTAL-A’s operational lifetime, helping maintain the observations. The mission is also intended to supply data for polar maritime activity, coastal and inland waters, and ocean-topography monitoring.