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--- transportation:satellites [2026/03/09 20:27] – [Replacement] timb
+++ transportation:satellites [2026/03/17 21:22] (current) – [DRACO] timb
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 ====== ESA ======
+===== CryoSat =====
+== A Clever Software Patch Gave This Ice Satellite a Wild New Trick ==
+A software upgrade allowed CryoSat to monitor disturbances caused by a geomagnetic storm.
+Passant Rabie - March 17, 2026
+On January 18, the Sun released a powerful eruption of high-energy particles that reached Earth in a jiff. The eruption caused some of the most intense radiation storms on record, resulting in disturbances to Earth’s magnetic field. Meanwhile, an ice-monitoring satellite had just received a software update to its navigation system, allowing it to observe the impact of the solar storm while also keeping a steady watch on the ice sheets.
+For nearly 16 years, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) CryoSat has been measuring the thickness of polar sea ice and monitoring changes in Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. At the end of last year, ESA engineers remotely upgraded the software for one of the satellite’s instruments. The new software allowed CryoSat to measure changes in Earth’s magnetosphere, just in time to observe the aftermath of an intense geomagnetic storm.
+CryoSat’s measurements of Earth’s magnetic field are detailed in a study published in Geophysical Research Letters.
+https://gizmodo.com/a-clever-software-patch-gave-this-ice-satellite-a-wild-new-trick-2000734135
 ===== DRACO =====