# CryoSat-2 3D model

> Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.

Free 3D model of CryoSat-2, a satellite, built from published dimensions by Space Radar. 7,902 triangles, 53 kB glTF, MIT.

- **Class:** Satellites
- **Mission:** Earth observation
- **Triangles:** 7,902
- **File:** cryosat-2.glb, 53 kB, glTF 2.0 binary (meshopt)
- **Look:** Flat colours
- **Size:** 4.6 m across
- **Made:** Built from dimensions
- **Added:** 2026-10-14
- **NORAD:** 36508
- **Download:** https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Sara-Managed-Projects/space-radar/main/site/models/cryosat-2.glb
- **Mirror:** https://git.sara-agent.org/sara-projects/space-radar/raw/branch/main/site/models/cryosat-2.glb
- **Viewer:** https://www.spaceradar.ai/model/?id=cryosat-2
- **On the live map:** https://www.spaceradar.ai/#at=sat-36508
- **Licence:** MIT (https://github.com/Sara-Managed-Projects/space-radar/blob/main/LICENSE)
- **Credit:** CryoSat-2 3D model by Space Radar (spaceradar.ai), MIT License

Canonical: https://models.spaceradar.ai/cryosat-2/

## How it was made

Built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh. 3D model: built by Space Radar from published dimensions (no free picture of the craft).

built by this project in code (the private tool model-from-images: assemble.py, from a yaml of primitives), from the cited dimensions and the pictures under `references`; no image-to-3D model was used, and no published mesh (NASA's 3D Resources has none of this craft; the survey of 2026-10-13 found no agency model of it under usable terms); ESA's own pictures and models were NOT used: ESA's terms forbid derivative works

## Dimensions

- Craft: 4.6 × 2.34 × 2.2 m
- Siral reflector: 1.2 × 1.1 m
- Siral baseline: 1.2 m
- Nose down: 6°

Source: eoPortal, https://www.eoportal.org/satellite-missions/cryosat-2, OPENED 2026-10-14: 'The spacecraft structure consists of a long rectangular main platform body, surmounted by fixed solar arrays in the form of a tent.'; 'The spacecraft has neither deployable appendages nor any other moving parts except for thruster valves.'; 'The lower surface of this structure is permanently earth facing.'; 'All electronics are mounted on the nadir plate acting as radiator.'; 'The antennas used for radio communication, and the Laser Retroreflector, are mounted on this surface; an emergency antenna for command and monitoring is also fitted on top of the satellite between the solar arrays.'; 'The two SIRAL instrument antenna dishes are mounted on a separate rigid bench in the forward section of the S/C.'; 'In addition, a dedicated SIRAL radiator is mounted at the nose tip.'; 'A slight nose-down attitude of the S/C (6º) is chosen'; 'The S/C has dimensions of 4.6 m x 2.34 m x 2.20 m.'; '2x GaAs body-mounted solar arrays, with 850 W each at normal solar incidence'; '3-axis stabilized local-normal pointing, with 6º nose-down attitude'; 'A set of three star tracker heads'; 'the star tracker accommodation on the antenna bench'; 'The SIRAL design features two receiving antennas forming an interferometer in the cross-track direction with a baseline of 1.2 m'; 'The antenna subsystem consists of two Cassegrain antennas, mounted side-by-side and forming the interferometric cross-track.'; 'The primary super-elliptic reflectors are about 1.1 m x 1.2 m in size.'; 'Figure 2: Illustration of the CryoSat-2 spacecraft with thermal covers on the SIRAL antennas'; 'LRR is accommodated in the nadir plate of the spacecraft'. ESA, 'Facts and figures', https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/FutureEO/CryoSat/Facts_and_figures, OPENED 2026-10-14 (words and numbers only): 'Launch: 8 April 2010'; 'Power: 2 × GaAs body-mounted solar arrays, each delivering 850 W'; 'Orbit: Mean altitude of 719 km and inclination of 92°; low Earth, polar, non-Sun-synchronous'. ESA, 'Satellite', https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/FutureEO/CryoSat/Satellite, OPENED 2026-10-14: 'The solar panels are rigidly fixed to the satellite body. Forming a 'roof' with a carefully optimised angle'; 'An S-band helix antenna fixed to the satellite's underside'; 'Next to it, an X-band antenna'. OURS: how the 4.6 m divides (3.5 m of body and roof, 1.05 m of nose), the roof's ridge 1.1 m above the body's top (no angle is given), the reflectors drawn round, every place on the Earth face, the star trackers' places on the bench.

## References

- [Cryosat2 test iabg ottobrunn](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cryosat2_test_iabg_ottobrunn.jpg), AndreasSchepers (Wikimedia Commons) (CC BY-SA 3.0 (AndreasSchepers, own work; read 2026-10-14): share-alike, LOOKED AT ONLY, never fetched by the tool and not on any sheet)