A new Earth science mission led by NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales is preparing for launch! In less than a month, the SWOT satellite – which stands for Surface Water and Ocean Topography – will launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in central California. 

The U.S.-European mission will help communities plan for a better future by: 

• Surveying nearly all of the water on Earth’s surface for the first time. 

• Helping researchers understand where the water is, where it’s coming from, and where it’s going.

• Improving understanding of the ocean’s role in climate change.

• Providing essential information to water management agencies, civil engineers, universities, disaster preparedness agencies, and others who need to track water in their local areas.

Tune in as we visit Vandenberg Space Force Base to see the SWOT satellite up close and take live questions with experts behind the mission.

The mission is a collaboration between NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency and UK Space Agency. JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, leads the U.S. component of the project.

SWOT is expected to launch in December 2022.

For more information on the SWOT mission, visit or follow #TrackingWorldWater on social media.