NASA launches the world's first water survey satellite

Baghdad-INA 

A SpaceX rocket will launch from California, carrying an American-French satellite designed to conduct the first global survey of Earth's water bodies, shedding new light on the mechanisms and consequences of climate change.

The Falcon 9 rocket, which is owned and operated by billionaire Elon Musk's Commercial Rocket Launch Company under contract with NASA, is scheduled to lift off at 3:46 a.m. PST (11:46 GMT) from the Space Force's Vandenberg Base. America, about 275 km northwest of Los Angeles.

Weather forecasts on Thursday suggested conditions would be right for the launch, which is managed by a NASA Launch Services team. NASA said the countdown was delayed from Thursday by 24 hours after examiners detected moisture in two of the rocket's nine main engines, but the issue was resolved following additional analysis. .

The missile's payload, which is the Water and Ocean Topography Satellite, includes precision wave radar with advanced technology to collect high-quality measurements of oceans, lakes, reservoirs and rivers in about 90 percent of the globe.