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JASON-2 * Instruments: Poseidon-3 Altimeter, Advanced Microwave Radiometer (AMR), Doppler orbitography and radiopositioning integrated from space (DORIS), and Global Positioning System Space Receiver (GPSP). * Launched date: June 20, 2008. * Orbit: Altitude: 1336 km, Circular, non-sun-synchronous, 66 degrees inclination, Global data coverage between 66 degrees N and 66 degrees S latitude, 10-day repeat of ground track (+/- 1 km accuracy), and coverage of 95% of ice-free oceans every 10 days. *Jason 2 additional orbit parameters: Semi-major axis - 7,714.4278 km, Eccentricity - 0.000095, Reference altitude (equatorial) - 1336 km, Nodal period - 6 745.72 seconds (112'42" or 1h52'). Repeat cycle - 9.9151 days, Number of passes per cycle - 254, Ground track separation at Equator - 315 km, Acute angle at Equator crossings - 39.5 degrees, Longitude at Equator of pass 1 - 99.9242 degrees, Orbital velocity - 7.2 km/s, Ground scanning velocity - 5.8 km/s. A satellite's orbit parameters tend to change over time as a result of atmospheric drag. In the long term, more or less periodic variations also occur due to instabilities in the Earth's gravity field, solar radiation pressure and other forces of smaller magnitude. Orbit manoeuvres are performed every 40 to 200 days. Intervals between manoeuvres depend chiefly on solar flux and each manoeuvre lasts from 20 to 60 minutes. Wherever possible, they are performed at the end of the orbit cycle, and above solid earth, so that lost data acquisition time is reduced to a minimum. * Mission Duration: Jason-2 has a designed lifetime of about 5 years. * Jason-2's orbit is identical to that of Jason-1 (and that of Topex/Poseidon previously). It is optimized to study large-scale ocean variability and to provide coverage of 90% of the world's oceans over a ten-day cycle. Jason-2's high altitude (1,336 kilometres) reduces interactions with the Earth's atmosphere and gravity field to a minimum, thus making orbit determination easier and more precise. The orbit inclination of 66 degrees North and South enables the satellite to cover most of the globe's unfrozen oceans. The orbit's repeat cycle is just under 10 days (9.9156 days to be precise, i.e., 10 days minus two hours) - in other words, the satellite passes over the same point on the Earth's surface (to within one kilometre) every ten days. This cycle is a trade-off between spatial and temporal resolution designed for the study of large-scale ocean variability. The fact that the orbit is prograde and not sun-synchronous also avoids aliasing of different tidal components at the same frequency. The orbit is also designed to pass over two dedicated ground calibration sites: Cap Senetosa in Corsica and the Harvest oil rig platform in California, USA.