Editing TOPEX/Poseidon (section)

== Results ==
While a three-year prime mission was planned, TOPEX/Poseidon delivered more than 10 years of data from orbit.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/topex.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20011023012406/http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/topex.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2001-10-23 | title = Ocean Surface Topography from Space | publisher = NASA/JPL }}</ref> In those years, the mission:

* Measured [[sea level]] with an unprecedented accuracy
* Mapped global [[tides]] for the first time
* Monitored effects of currents on global [[climate change]] and produced the first global views of seasonal changes of currents
* Monitored large-scale ocean features like Rossby and Kelvin waves and studied such phenomena as [[El Niño]], La Niña, and the [[Pacific Decadal Oscillation]]
* Mapped basin-wide current variations and provided global data to validate models of ocean circulation
* Mapped year-to-year changes in heat stored in the upper ocean
* Improved our knowledge of Earth's gravity field
* Observed the temperature of the ocean and main seas for over a period of 10 years

TOPEX/Poseidon was launched using an [[Ariane (rocket)|Ariane]] 42P [[expendable launch vehicle]], along with Korea Institute of Technology's [[Kitsat-1]] satellite and France's S80/T satellite . Lift-off from [[Kourou]] in [[French Guiana]] took place on 1992-08-10. At lift-off the mass of the satellite was {{convert|2402|kg|lb}}.<ref name=nssdc>{{cite web |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1992-052A |title=Topex/Poseidon - NSSDC ID: 1992-052A |publisher=NASA}}</ref> The mission was named after the ocean TOPography EXperiment and the [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] god of the ocean [[Poseidon]].

In October 2005 after more than 62,000 orbits, TOPEX/Poseidon stopped providing science data after a [[momentum wheel]] malfunctioned, and the satellite was turned off on January 18, 2006.<ref name="NASA">{{cite web | url = http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/jan/HQ_06001_TOPEX_update.html| title = NASA's Topex/Poseidon Oceanography Mission Ends | publisher = NASA}}</ref>

=== Use of results ===
TOPEX/Poseidon's data have been the subject of more than 2,100 research publications.<ref name="NASA" />
Some of the areas in which the data are used include:<ref>{{cite web|title=Ocean Surface Topography from Space|url=http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/overview/benefits.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011230142820/http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/overview/benefits.html|archive-date=2001-12-30|publisher=NASA/JPL}}</ref>

* Climate Research
* Coral Reef Research
* [[El Niño Southern Oscillation|El Niño & La Niña]] Forecasting
* Fisheries Management
* Hurricane Forecasting
* Marine Mammal Research
* Offshore Industries
* Ship Routing