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Artist's concept of Geosat |
The U.S. Navy Geosat radar altimeter satellite delivered data from April 1985 to September 1989, covering the earth's surface between +/- 72 deg latitude. The first 18 months of the mission, referred to as the geodetic portion, the satellite was in a 135-day repeat orbit and produced dense coverage of the ice sheets. The next 3 years the satellite was in a 17-day exact repeat orbit producing less dense ground coverage. For more detailed description on Geosat, link to NOAA Laboratory for Satellite Altimetry web site.