Ice mission CRISTAL opens its wings

CRISTAL: Europe’s polar ice satellite completes assembly and passes its first tests

The European Space Agency said on October 26 that Airbus engineers in Friedrichshafen finished assembling CRISTAL, the first Copernicus Sentinel Expansion mission, which has now passed its first tests.

CRISTAL Advances From Assembly to Testing for Polar Ice Monitoring

Airbus has completed assembly of the CRISTAL ice-monitoring satellite and conducted initial deployment and launch-interface tests. ESA’s October 26, 2026 update reports that assembly finished in September at Friedrichshafen, Germany. Launch is targeted for late 2027 or early 2028.

ESA’s CRISTAL Passes Ground Tests, With Snow Accuracy Still to Prove

Friedrichshafen, October 27, 2026, 04:04 (CET) Europe’s CRISTAL ice-monitoring satellite has passed solar-array deployment and launcher-interface tests, the European Space Agency said on Monday. Environmental qualification comes next, ahead of a targeted late-2027 to early-2028 launch. CRISTAL adds a second radar frequency to CryoSat’s ice-monitoring approach. The mission is intended to distinguish overlying snow from…

Ice mission CRISTAL opens its wings

With its solar arrays integrated and key qualification reviews under way, Europe’s new ice-monitoring satellite, CRISTAL, is moving from assembly into the demanding testing phase that will demonstrate its readiness for the rigours of launch and life in orbit.