TERRA (EOS AM)

• The TERRA (Earth Observing System [EOS] AM) spacecraft provides detailed measurements of clouds, aerosols, and the Earth's radiative energy balance, together with measurements of the land surface and its interaction with the atmosphere through exchanges of energy, carbon and water. These interactive processes present scientific questions of the highest priority to understanding global climate change.

  The five instruments on the TERRA spacecraft are CERES, MOPITT, MISR, MODIS, ASTER. Four of these instruments will acquire simultaneous complementary observations of cloud properties, as well as provide error-free Earth surface images. All instruments together will contribute to detecting environmental changes and thereby accelerate understanding of the total Earth system.  TERRA was launched from Vandenberg AFB in California on December 18, 1999.
  

  EOS
  EOS PM
  EOS CHEM
  ICESat

ERBS

• The Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) is the mid-inclination satellite of the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment Research Program, and was deployed by the NASA Space Shuttle Orbiter on October 5, 1984. Its current orbit is 577 x 598 km x 57 degrees inclination.
  

GOES I-M

• The GOES system is a basic element of U.S. weather monitoring and forecast operations and is a key component of NOAA'S National Weather Service operations and modernization program.

  GOES (I-M) Mission Summary
  GOES I-M NASA Facts
  GOES
  NOAA

LANDSAT 7

• The Landsat Program is the longest running enterprise for acquisition of imagery of the Earth from space. The first Landsat satellite was launched in 1972.  The next in the series, Landsat 7, was launched April 15, 1999 aboard a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.  The instruments on the Landsat satellites have recorded millions of images, These images, archived in the United States and at Landsat receiving stations around the world, are a unique resource for global change research and other applications. Landsat data have been used extensively in agriculture and geology, global change science, education and national security.

  Landsat 7 Fact Sheet
  

NOAA-K-L

• A polar-orbiting operational satellite developed and launched by NASA for the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NOAA-K provides information on temperature and humidity in the Earth's atmosphere for weather forecasts. NOAA-K is much like its predecessors, but has more technologically advanced instrumentation. NOAA-K's advanced microwave sounder will be capable of providing observations through all weather conditions. NOAA-K launched May 13, 1998 aboard a Titan II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.  NOAA-L is scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in 2000.

          NOAA-K Fact Sheet

QuikSCAT

• The Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) mission was the first delivery order issued under the Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contracts for rapid delivery of satellite core-systems. The ID/IQ procurement method provides NASA a faster, better, cheaper method for the purchase of satellite systems through a "catalog," allowing for shorter turnaround time from mission conception to launch.

  QuikSCAT is filling in the ocean-wind vector data gap created by the loss of the NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT) on the Japanese Advanced Earth Observing Satellite (ADEOS) spacecraft. The NSCAT instrument ceased functioning when ADEOS failed on June 30, 1997. QuikSCAT was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, aboard a Titan II vehicle in June 1999, reducing the data gap by about one-half.

  QuikSCAT represents a unique collaboration between NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. JPL's NSCAT/SeaWinds program office has been assigned the QuikSCAT management responsibility and will provide management, ground systems and a SeaWinds-type scatterometer instrument while Goddard has been given responsibility to procure the satellite under the newly instituted ID/IQ, which enables a quick acquisition of a science bus to support NASA's space science, Earth science and technology needs.

TOMS-EP

• This is an artist conception of the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer, launched onboard an Earth Probe Satellite (TOMS/EP) in July 1996. TOMS/EP is continuing NASA's long term daily mapping of the global distribution of the Earth's atmospheric ozone. This NASA developed instrument, which measures ozone indirectly by monitoring ultraviolet light, has mapped in detail the Antarctic "ozone hole," which forms September through November of each year, and the distribution of ozone over the globe.

  TOMS/EP Mission Summary
  TOMS/EP NASA Facts
  TOMS
  TOMS-EP
  TOMS-ADEOS
  TOMS-NIMBUS-7
  TOMS-Meteor-3
  QuikTOMS

TRMM

• The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), is the first mission dedicated to measuring tropical and subtropical rainfall through microwave and visible infrared sensors, including the first spaceborne rain radar. The TRMM mission began with a picture-perfect launch from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center,  aboard a Japanese H-II rocket on November 27, 1997.  Just fourteen minutes later, the TRMM satellite separated from the rocket's second stage.  The automatic sequencer on TRMM successfully deployed the solar arrays, and the high gain antenna after a short time-out period initiated at spearation.  TRMM is operating well and continues to receive scientific data.

  TRMM Fact Sheet
  TRMM Home Page
  

UARS

• The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) is improving our understanding of the upper atmosphere, determining the methods needed to maintain its physical and chemical integrity, and developing techniques for early detection of harmful changes in the ozone layer. Launched September 15, 1991, from the Space Shuttle Discover, UARS had a design life of 18 months. It continues to collect critical Earth science data.

  UARS Mission Summary
  UARS NASA Facts
  UARS
  

SeaStar

• The SeaStar spacecraft, developed by OSC, carries the SeaWiFS instrument. SeaWiFS was launched to low Earth orbit on board an expendable Pegasus launch vehicle on August 1, 1997, and is the only scientific payload on the SeaStar spacecraft.

  SeaWiFS NASA Facts
  SeaWIFS Home Page
  SeaWIFS Fact Sheet

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We are interested in what you think, so please send us your comments.

Curator: Lynn Jenner
Author: Darlene A. Ahalt

Last Revised: 21 July 2000