EO·Atlas
CFOSAT
CFOSAT (Chinese-French Oceanography Satellite) is a joint CNES-CNSA mission for simultaneous sea-surface wind and ocean-wave observations, launched on 2018-10-29.[1][2] It flies a sun-synchronous orbit at approximately 500-519 km altitude with a morning descending equator crossing.[3] The satellite carries two radar instruments: SWIM, a Ku-band rotating multi-beam radar altimeter developed by CNES for directional wave spectra and significant wave height retrieval, and SCAT, a Ku-band scatterometer built by the Chinese side for ocean-surface wind measurement.[1][4] As of the research date, SWIM remains active; the SCAT scatterometer has been inactive or degraded since approximately 2022 per WMO OSCAR records, while CEOS lists mission status as operational nominal.[3][2] CFOSAT supports global sea-state and ocean-surface wind monitoring for marine meteorology and climate applications.[1]
Supply chain position
- [1]AVISO+ mission page: CFOSATagency doc2026-06-14
- [2]CFOSAT mission summary, CEOS EO Handbookcommunity2026-06-14
- [3]CFOSAT, WMO OSCAR satellite recordcommunity2026-06-14
- [4]SWIM, WMO OSCAR instrument recordcommunity2026-06-14
How to cite this page
Plain text
CFOSAT. EO-Atlas, SpectraWorks B.V. https://eo-atlas.org/missions/cfosat (CC BY 4.0)
BibTeX
@misc{eoatlas:missions:cfosat,
title = {CFOSAT},
author = {{EO-Atlas}},
publisher = {SpectraWorks B.V.},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
url = {https://eo-atlas.org/missions/cfosat}
}