 Launch and Early Orbit Phase operations were completed in the morning of 11 April 2010 , and SIRAL @-@ 2 was activated later the same day . At 14 : 40 UTC , the spacecraft returned its first scientific data . Initial data on ice thickness was presented by the mission 's Lead Investigator , Duncan Wingham , at the 2010 Living Planet Symposium on 1 July . Later the same month , data was made available to scientists for the first time . The spacecraft underwent six months of on @-@ orbit testing and commissioning , which concluded with a review on 22 October 2010 that found the spacecraft was operating as expected , and that it was ready to begin operations . 
