Jason is an oceanography mission to monitor global ocean circulation, discover the tie between the oceans and atmosphere, improve global climate predictions, and monitor events such as El Nio conditions and ocean eddies. The Jason satellite, a joint France/USA mission, is a follow-on to the highly successful TOPEX/Poseidon altimeter mission.

Jason is named after the mythological hero who led the Argonauts on the search for the Golden Fleece. "Jason" symbolizes both the hard-fought quest for a worthy goal and civilization's fascination with the ocean and its mysteries. The specification of "1" attests to the expectation that "Jason" is one of a series of TOPEX/Poseidon follow-on missions.

Mission Instrumentation:

Jason-1 has the following instrumentation onboard:

Microwave radiometer
DORIS dual frequency system receiver
Dual-frequency solid-state altimeter
GPS receiver
Retroreflector array

Mission Parameters:

Jason-1 Parameters
Sponsor:	NASA & CNES
Expected Life:	5 years
Primary Applications:	oceanography and climate change
Primary SLR Application(s):	calibrate satellite altimeter
COSPAR ID:	0105501
SIC Code:	4378
NORAD SSC Code:	26997
Launch Date:	December 07, 2001
RRA Diameter:	16 cm
RRA Shape:	hemispherical
Reflectors:	9 corner cubes
Orbit:	circular
Inclination:	66 degrees
Eccentricity:	0.000
Perigee:	1336 km
Period:	112 minutes
Weight:	500 kg (fueled)

Additional Information:

Web sites:

Jason Vibration Testing photo (JPEG, 264 Kb)
CNES
JPL
Archiving, Validation and Interpretation of Satellite Oceanographic data (AVISO)
Science at NASA
Weekly HTSI Tracking Reports

Publications:

Haines, B., Desai, S., Willis, P., Bertiger, W., Munson, T., "Precise orbit determination for Jason-1: GPS and the 1-cm challenge", EGS-AGU-EUG Joint Assembly, Abstracts from the meeting held in Nice, France, 6 - 11 April 2003.
Luthcke, S.B., et. al., "The 1-Centimeter Orbit: Jason-1 Precision Orbit Determination Using GPS, SLR, DORIS, and Altimeter Data", Marine Geodesy, 26: 399-421, 2003.
Jason-1/2 SLR Tracking Status (09/2008)