- NASA has announced the conclusion of its CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared
Pathfinder Satellite Observation) mission, which analysed climate, weather, and air
quality for 17 years. - CALIPSO, launched jointly by NASA and France’s CNES, used LIDAR (Light Detection and
Ranging) technology to record over 10 billion measurements and generate thousands of
scientific reports. - The ”Mission involved two satellites, CALIPSO and CloudSat, which were launched in
2003 and orbited the Earth in a Sun-synchronous orbit. - They measured cloud altitudes and various atmospheric particles’ properties, such as
dust, sea salt, ash, and soot. - These observations contributed to sophisticated models to understand complex
atmospheric processes, including cloud formation, atmospheric convection,
precipitation, and particle transport.