PASADENA, Calif. — Jason-1, a satellite that for more than a decade precisely tracked rising sea levels across a vast sweep of ocean and helped forecasters make better weather and climate predictions, has ended its useful life after circling the globe more than 53,500 times, NASA announced Wednesday.
The joint U.S. and French satellite was decommissioned this week after its last remaining transmitter failed, according to a NASA statement.
Launched on Dec. 7, 2001, Jason-1 was designed to have a lifespan of three to five years but it lasted for 11 ½ years.
Every 10 days, its instruments scanned the ocean surface, mapping sea level, wind speed and wave height for more than 95 percent of the planet's ice-free ocean area. It was one of three oceanographic satellites that contributed to a 20-year record of sea-level changes, NASA said.
"Jason-1 has been a resounding scientific, technical and international success," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
Since its launch, Jason-1 recorded a rise of nearly 1.6 inches in global sea levels that are "a critical measure of climate change and a direct result of global warming," Grunsfeld said in a statement. "The Jason satellite series provides the most accurate measure of this impact, which is felt all over the globe."
Last year, the 1,100-pound satellite was moved into a final "graveyard" orbit where, its extra fuel depleted, it was assigned to observe Earth's gravity field over the ocean, NASA said.
A 406-day scan completed on June 17 led to the discovery of many underwater seamounts and increased knowledge of the depth of the ocean floor, researchers said.
