Two NASA satellites will be launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California no earlier than October 26th. CloudSat and Calipso (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations) will provide a new, 3-D perspective on Earth’s clouds and aerosols, or airborne particles. The satellites will use new technology to explore how clouds and aerosols form, evolve, and affect our water supply, climate, weather, and air quality.

CloudSat has new high-profiling radar that is 1,000 times more sensitive than regular weather radar. It may explain: how clouds produce rain and snow; how rain and snow are distributed worldwide; and how clouds affect the Earth’s climate. Calipso has a new polarization lidar instrument that can detect the difference between aerosol particles and cloud particles. It will study Earth’s climate system.