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May
3, 2002
Aqua is dedicated to advancing our understanding of global climate and global change. Launching the Aqua spacecraft marks a major milestone in support of NASA's mission to help us better understand and protect our planet. The primary goal of Aqua, as the name implies, is to gather information about water in the earth's system. Equipped with six state-of-the-art instruments, Aqua will collect data on global precipitation, evaporation, and the cycling of water. This information will help scientists all over the world to better understand the global water cycle and determine if the water cycle is accelerating as a result of climate change. Aqua is a joint project among the United States, Japan and Brazil. The United States provided the spacecraft and four of the six scientific instruments. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center provides the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer and the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. provides the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder, and NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va. provides the Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System instrument. For information
on the Aqual launch and project, go to:
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