NASA's newly-launched SWOT satellite is one step closer to science as it unfolds in space | Watch video

NASA's Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) spacecraft has successfully deployed its large mast and antenna panels - a process that was captured by the two cameras aboard the satellite on December 22, 2022.

The satellite launched into Earth orbit on Friday, Dec. 16, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in central California on a mission to track nearly all the water on Earth's surface. It was jointly developed by NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the UK Space Agency. 

The two antennas belong to the satellite's main science instrument, Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn). This groundbreaking instrument is designed to measure the height of water in Earth's freshwater bodies and the ocean with precision, and can detect eddies, currents, and other ocean features that are less than 13 miles (20 kilometers) in size. Additionally, it can collect data on lakes and reservoirs larger than 15 acres (62,500 square meters) and rivers wider than 330 feet (100 meters) wide.

The two cameras focused on the KaRIn antennas captured the mast extending out from the spacecraft and locking in place but stopped short of capturing the antennas being fully deployed (a milestone the team confirmed with telemetry data.)

Check out this video shared by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The masts, which unfold from opposite sides of the spacecraft, can be seen extending out from the spacecraft and locking in place, but the cameras stopped short of capturing the antennas at the ends of the masts being fully deployed (a milestone the team confirmed with telemetry data). 

Video Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/CNES

SWOT's data will be of great assistance to scientists and decision-makers in tackling the most urgent climate issues of our era and in aiding communities to get ready for a world that is becoming increasingly hotter.