Altika: A micro-satellite Ka-band altimetry mission

International audienceKa-band altimetry has been proposed by Verron et al. (2001) to complement the altimetry reference missions of the Jason class. The goal of this paper is to provide information on the so-called “AltiKa” proposal in terms of science requirements, responsive technical specifications, and a priori performances. Besides the fact that the feasibility of embarking an AltiKa payload on a microsatellite has already been assessed, there is also the information that a small launcher may have the capability of launching several microsatellites simultaneously (up to three) in a number of configurations that may be adapted to the space time requirements of high resolution altimetry