Objectives and Applications
CICERO satellites host CION instruments (CICERO Instrument for GNSS-RO) which perform GNSS-RO by sensing radio signals broadcast by GNSS satellites (GPS and Galileo) and measuring the phase delay due to refraction during occultation. Second-generation CICERO-2 satellites (two launched in 2022) carry an improved CION instrument, CION-2, which measures reflected signals from the sea surface and has a polarimetric capability, in addition to GNSS-RO. CION and CION-2 data produce high-accuracy profiles of atmospheric pressure, temperature, and moisture; 3D maps of the electron distribution in the ionosphere; and information on ocean and ice properties.
Full Name
Community Initiative for Continuing Earth Radio Occultation 8
Mission Status
Operational (nominal)
Mission Agencies
GeoOptics
Launch Date
29 Nov 2018
Mission Links
EOL Date
Dec 2025
Orbit Type
Sun-synchronous
Orbit Period
Orbit Sense
Orbit Inclination
97.49 deg
Orbit Altitude
499 km
Orbit Longitude
NORAD Catalog #
International Designator
No IDN OpenSearch datasets found.