Drift of PARASOL overpass time is accelerating
The Parasol project team informs the scientific community that the overpass time of the PARASOL mission is departing more and more rapidly from its original value (1:30 pm). The mission has gone well beyond its expected duration and the inclination of the spacecraft has not been maintained for years causing the drift to increase rapidly in the afternoon. Parasol is currently crossing the equator at approximately 3:00 pm local time. This drift does not significantly affect the quality of the products, but leads to a significant modification on solar geometries during acquisitions.
Furthermore, please be reminded that since February 2012 there is no more overlapping at the equator with the other sensors of the A-Train constellation.
