Nimbus 1
Status: Completed
Mission Category: Historical Missions
Launch Date: August 28, 1964
Launch Location: Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA
Nimbus 1, the first in a series of second-generation meteorological research-and-development satellites, was designed to serve as a stabilized, earth-oriented platform for the testing of advanced meteorological sensor systems and for collecting meteorological data. The polar-orbiting spacecraft consisted of three major elements: (1) a sensory ring, (2) solar paddles, and (3) the control system housing. The solar paddles and the control system housing were connected to the sensory ring by a truss structure, giving the satellite the appearance of an ocean buoy.
Nimbus 2
Status: Completed
Mission Category: Historical Missions
Launch Date: May 15, 1966
Launch Location: Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA
Nimbus 2, the second in a series of second-generation meteorological research-and-development satellites, was designed to serve as a stabilized, earth-oriented platform for the testing of advanced meteorological sensor systems and the collecting of meteorological data. The polar-orbiting spacecraft consisted of three major elements: (1) a sensory ring, (2) solar paddles, and (3) the control system housing. The solar paddles and the control system housing were connected to the sensory ring by a truss structure, giving the satellite the appearance of an ocean buoy.
Nimbus 3
Status: Completed
Mission Category: Historical Missions
Launch Date: April 14, 1969
Launch Location: Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA
Nimbus 3, the third in a series of second-generation meteorological research-and-development satellites, was designed to serve as a stabilized, earth-oriented platform for the testing of advanced meteorological sensor systems and the collecting of meteorological data. The polar-orbiting spacecraft consisted of three major elements: (1) a sensory ring, (2) solar paddles, and (3) the control system housing. The solar paddles and the control system housing were connected to the sensory ring by a truss structure, giving the satellite the appearance of an ocean buoy.
Nimbus 4
Status: Completed
Mission Category: Historical Missions
Launch Date: April 8, 1970
Launch Location: Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA
Nimbus 4, the fourth in a series of second-generation meteorological research-and-development satellites, was designed to serve as a stabilized, earth-oriented platform for the testing of advanced meteorological sensor systems and for collecting meteorological data. The polar-orbiting spacecraft consisted of three major structures: (1) a ring-shaped sensor mount, (2) solar paddles, and (3) the control system housing. The solar paddles and the control system were connected to the sensor mount by a truss structure, giving the satellite the appearance of an ocean buoy.
Nimbus 5
Status: Completed
Mission Category: Historical Missions
Launch Date: December 11, 1972
Launch Location: Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA
The Nimbus 5 research-and-development satellite was designed to serve as a stabilized, earth-oriented platform for the testing of advanced meteorological sensor systems and to the collection of global-scale meteorological and geological data. The polar-orbiting spacecraft consisted of three major structures: (1) a hollow, ring-shaped sensor mount, (2) solar paddles, and (3) a control system housing. The solar paddles and control system housing were connected to the sensor mount by a truss structure, giving the satellite the appearance of an ocean buoy.
Nimbus 6
Status: Completed
Mission Category: Historical Missions
Launch Date: June 12, 1975
Launch Location: Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA
The Nimbus 6 research-and-development satellite served as a stabilized, earth-oriented platform that tested advanced systems for the sensing and collecting of global-scale meteorological data. The polar-orbiting spacecraft consisted of three major structures: (1) a hollow torus-shaped sensor mount, (2) solar paddles, and (3) a control housing unit connected to the sensor mount by a tripod truss structure. These structures gave the spacecraft a configuration somewhat like that of an ocean buoy.
Nimbus 7
Status: Completed
Mission Category: Historical Missions
Launch Date: October 24, 1978
Launch Location: Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA
The Nimbus 7 research-and-development satellite served as a stabilized, earth-oriented platform for the testing of advanced systems used to sense and collect data in the pollution, oceanographic, and meteorological disciplines. The polar-orbiting spacecraft consisted of three major structures: (1) a hollow torus-shaped sensor mount, (2) solar paddles, and (3) a control housing unit that was connected to the sensor mount by a tripod truss structure. These structures gave the spacecraft a configuration somewhat like that of an ocean buoy.
Seasat 1
Status: Completed
Mission Category: Historical Missions
Launch Date: June 28, 1978
Launch Location: Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA
Actual Completion Date: October 10, 1978
Seasat was the first satellite designed for remote sensing of the Earth’s oceans with synthetic aperture radar (SAR). The mission was designed to demonstrate the feasibility of global satellite monitoring of oceanographic phenomena and to help determine the requirements for an operational ocean remote sensing satellite system. Specific objectives were to collect data on sea-surface winds, sea-surface temperatures, wave heights, internal waves, atmospheric water, sea ice features, and ocean topography. The mission ended on October 10, 1978 due to a failure of the vehicle’s electric power system. Although only approximately 42 hours of real time data were received, the mission demonstrated the feasiblity of using microwave sensors to monitor ocean conditions and laid the groundwork for future SAR missions.
Synchronous Meterological Satellite (SMS)
Status: Completed
Mission Category: Historical Missions
Launch Date: May 17, 1974
Launch Location: Cape Canaveral, FL
The success of the meteorological experiments carried aboard the Applications Technology Satellite-1 and -3 missions led to NASA's development of a satellite specifically designed to make atmospheric observations. Synchronous Meterological Satellite (SMS) operational prototypes (SMS-1 and SMS-2), were launched in 1974 and 1975. SMS-1 and -2, and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES)-1, -2, and -3 were essentially identical. They carried instrumentation for visible and international remote imaging, collection of data from automated remote platforms, relay of weather products (WEFAX), and measurement of a number of characteristics of the near space environment.
Television Infrared Observation Satellite Program (TIROS)
Status: Completed
Mission Category: Historical Missions
Launch Date: April 1, 1960
Launch Location: Cape Canaveral, FL
The Television Infrared Observation Satellite Program (TIROS) was NASA’s first experimental step to determine if satellites could be useful in the study of the Earth. At that time, the effectiveness of satellite observations was still unproven. Since satellites were a new technology, the TIROS Program also tested various design issues for spacecraft: instruments, data and operational parameters. The goal was to improve satellite applications for Earth-bound decisions, such as “should we evacuate the coast because of the hurricane?”.
The TIROS Program’s first priority was the development of a meteorological satellite information system. Weather forecasting was deemed the most promising application of space-based observations.
TIROS proved extremely successful, providing the first accurate weather forecasts based on data gathered from space. TIROS began continuous coverage of the Earth’s weather in 1962, and was used by meteorologists worldwide. The program’s success with many instrument types and orbital configurations led to the development of more sophisticated meteorological observation satellites.
Applications Technology Satellite (ATS)
Launch Date: December 7, 1966
Launch Location: Cape Canaveral, FL
The Applications Technology Satellite (ATS) series was conceived of as a follow-on to the successful experimental communications satellites of the early 1960s with the addition of other technology demonstrations, such as weather observation and investigation of the space environment.
NASA and Hughes had hoped to continue the success of the Syncom project with an Advanced Syncom. They met resistance from some members of Congress who feared that NASA was developing technology for the benefit of a private company, namely Comsat. So the project’s objectives were broadened and it became ATS. The Department of Defense (DoD) influenced NASA to include technology for gravity-gradient stabilization (on ATS-2, ATS-4, and ATS-5) and for medium-altitude orbits (ATS-2). All five of the first generation ATS spacecraft carried a C-band transponder with 25 MHz bandwidth capable of relaying 1200 one-way voice circuits or one color television signal.
Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite (CRRES)
Launch Date: July 25, 1990
Launch Location: Cape Canaveral, FL
The Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite (CRRES) was launched into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) for a nominal three-year mission to investigate fields, plasmas, and energetic particles inside the Earth’s magnetosphere.
As part of the CRRES program, the Space Radiation Effects (SPACERAD) project, managed by the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory, investigated the radiation environment of the inner and outer radiation belts and measured radiation effects on state-of-the-art microelectronics devices. Other magnetospheric, ionospheric, and cosmic ray experiments were included onboard CRRES and supported by NASA or the Office of Naval Research.
The chemical release project was managed by NASA/MSFC and utilized the release of chemicals from onboard canisters at low altitudes near dawn and dusk perigee times and at high altitudes near local midnight. The chemical releases were monitored with optical and radar instrumentation by ground-based observers to measure the bulk properties and movement of the expanding clouds of photo-ionized plasma along field lines after the releases occurred. In order to study the magnetosphere at different local times during the mission, the satellite orbit was designed to precess with respect to the Earth-Sun line such that the local time at apogee decreased by 2.5 minutes/day from 08:00 (LT) just after launch and returned to this position in nineteen-month cycles.
The CRRES spacecraft had the shape of an octagonal prism with solar arrays on the top side. The prism was 1 m high and 3 m between opposite faces. Four of the eight compartments were for the chemical canisters and the other four housed SPACERAD and other experiments. The spacecraft body was spun at 2.2 rpm about a spin axis in the ecliptic plane and kept pointed about 12 degrees ahead of the Sun’s apparent motion in celestial coordinates. Pre-launch and in-flight operations were supported by the Space Test and Transportation Program Office of the U.S. Air Force Space Division. Contact with the CRRES spacecraft was lost on October 12, 1991 and was presumed to be due to onboard battery failure.
Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS)
Launch Date: October 5, 1984
Launch Location: Cape Canaveral, FL
NASA’s Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) was designed to investigate how energy from the Sun is absorbed and re-radiated by the Earth. Understanding this process helps reveal patterns in Earth’s weather. One of the longest-running spacecraft missions to date, ERBS was launched on October 5, 1984 on the Space Shuttle Challenger and retired on October 14, 2005. The spacecraft was expected to have a two-year operation life, but ultimately, the mission provided scientific data about the Earth’s ozone layer for more than two decades.
What’s more, ERBS observations have also been used to determine how human activities such as the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and the burning of fossil fuels affect Earth’s radiation balance. Data on the ozone layer provided by ERBS were key in the international community’s decision-making process during the Montreal Protocol Agreement. This agreement has resulted in a near elimination of CFCs in industrialized countries. It was ERBS data, in part, that led to the understanding that CFCs deplete atmospheric ozone concentrations.
The mission was part of NASA’s three satellite Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE), designed to investigate how energy from the Sun is absorbed and re-emitted by the Earth. This process of absorption and re-radiation is one of the principal drivers of the Earth’s weather patterns. Observations from ERBS are also used to determine the effects of human activities (such as burning fossil fuels and the use of CFCs) and natural occurrences (such as volcanic eruptions) on the Earth’s radiation balance. The ERBS was the first of three ERBE platforms that would eventually carry the ERBE Instruments. In addition to the ERBE scanning and nonscanning instruments, the satellite also carried the Stratospheric Aerosol Gas Experiment (SAGE II). Goddard Space Flight Center built the satellite and it was launched by the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1984. The second ERBE Instrument was aboard the NOAA-9 satellite when it was launched in January of 1985, and the third was aboard the NOAA-10 satellite when it was launched in October of 1986. Although the scanning instruments on board all three ERBE satellites are no longer operational, the nonscanning instruments are all presently functioning.
Dynamics Explorer 1 (DE 1)
Launch Date: August 3, 1981
Launch Location: Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA
The Dynamics Explorer (DE) mission’s general objective was to investigate the strong interactive processes coupling the hot, tenuous, convecting plasmas of the magnetosphere and the cooler, denser plasmas and gases corotating in the Earth’s ionosphere, upper atmosphere, and plasmasphere. Two satellites, DE 1 and DE 2, were launched together and were placed in polar coplanar orbits, permitting simultaneous measurements at high and low altitudes in the same field-line region.
The DE 1 spacecraft (high-altitude mission) uses an elliptical orbit selected to allow (1) measurements extending from the hot magnetospheric plasma through the plasmasphere to the cool ionosphere; (2) global auroral imaging, wave measurements in the heart of the magnetosphere, and crossing of auroral field lines at several earth radii; and (3) measurements for significant periods along a magnetic field flux tube. A pulse code modulation (PCM) telemetry data system is used that operates in real time or in a tape-recorder mode. Data have been acquired on a science-problem-oriented basis, with closely coordinated operations of the various instruments, both satellites, and supportive experiments.
Dynamics Explorer 2 (DE 2)
Launch Date: August 3, 1981
The Dynamics Explorer (DE) mission's general objective was to investigate the strong interactive processes coupling the hot, tenuous, convecting plasmas of the magnetosphere and the cooler, denser plasmas and gases corotating in the Earth’s ionosphere, upper atmosphere, and plasmasphere. Two satellites, DE 1 and DE 2, were launched together and were placed in polar coplanar orbits, permitting simultaneous measurements at high and low altitudes in the same field-line region.
The DE 2 spacecraft (low-altitude mission) complemented the high-altitude mission DE 1 and was placed into an orbit with a perigee sufficiently low to permit measurements of neutral composition, temperature, and wind. The apogee was high enough to permit measurements above the interaction regions of suprathermal ions, and also plasma flow measurements at the feet of the magnetospheric field lines.
Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA)
Launch Date: February 3, 1966
Launch Location: Cape Canaveral, FL
The Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) satellite program was initiated as an extension of, and a compliment to, the Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS) program. Like TIROS, the ESSA program’s primary objective was to provide cloud-cover photography to the American National Meteorological Center.
Over a period of almost 4 years, ESSA satellites transmitted thousands of images back to Earth, enabling ground stations to predict weather patterns, including hurricanes. Advances in technology allowed ESSA to more than double the amount of information gathered over the life of the program. When ESSA-6 was deactivated by NASA, its images were reaching more than 300 receiving stations around the world, in 45 countries.
ESSA imagery was of a much wider scope, and better resolution, than that of the TIROS 9 program. ESSA satellite design and missions were the result of a combined effort on the part of NASA, the ESSA, the U.S. Weather Bureau, and the National Meteorological Center. Its success prompted further exploration of using space-borne weather prediction and monitoring devices, like ATS and the NIMBUS series.
European Remote Sensing (ERS-1)
Launch Date: July 17, 1991
Launch Location: Kourou, French Guiana
The European Remote Sensing (ERS-1) satellite was the most sophisticated Earth observation satellite ever developed in Europe. It weighed over two tons, and fully deployed, covered almost 12 meters. The satellite circled the Earth once every 100 minutes, 780 up, beaming down data at a mind-boggling 105 megabits per second.
The satellite measured wind speed and direction, ocean wave parameters, and variations in the satellite’s height above sea-level and ice. It’s Active Microwave Instrument, the biggest on-board system, produced extremely detailed images of a 100 swath of the Earth’s surface-4.5 million pixels per second-downlinked directly to Earth. The satellite’s radiometer constructed detailed pictures of the thermal structure of the seas and oceans from surface temperature measurements.
In April 1995, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched ERS-2, a carbon copy of ERS-1 with one important difference: ERS-2’s payload included a new instrument (GOME) to measure stratospheric and tropospheric ozone. No other satellite could compete with the capabilities of ERS at the time. ERS gave scientists more confidence in modeling the climate of our planet on a global scale. Regionally, it kept a close eye on coastlines, marine pollution, and land use changes.
Far exceeding its lifespan, ERS-1 ended its mission in March 2000 after a computer and gyro control failure. ERS-2 continues its operation and is expected to do so for several more years.
GEOdetic SATellite (GEOSAT)
Launch Date: March 12, 1985
The U.S. Navy GEOdetic SATellite (GEOSAT) was launched on March 12, 1985, into an 800-km, 108-deg inclination orbit. It carried an altimeter that was capable of measuring the distance from satellite to sea surface with a relative precision of about 5 cm. Following a classified mission for the Navy, GEOSAT’s scientific Exact Repeat Mission (ERM) began on November 8, 1986. During the ERM, GEOSAT was in a 17.05-day repeat orbit. In this orbit, the satellite passed the same point on the Earth every 17.05 days to gather important information on sea level change and ocean variability.
When the ERM ended in January 1990 from failure of both its on-board tape recorders, more than three years of precise altimeter data were available to the scientific community. The studies made using GEOSAT data are numerous and the GEOSAT data set is regarded as a milestone in both satellite oceanography and satellite geodesy.
The U.S. Navy GEOdetic SATellite, GEOSAT, carried an altimeter that was capable of measuring the distance from satellite to sea surface with a relative precision of about 5 cm.During the ERM, GEOSAT was in a 17.05-day repeat orbit. In this orbit the satellite passes the same point on the Earth every 17.05 days, which offers the opportunity to determine the mean sea levels at these points containing information on the local gravity, and to study sea level changes containing information on ocean variability. The studies made on GEOSAT data are numerous and the GEOSAT data set is regarded as a milestone in both satellite oceanography and satellite geodesy.
Marine Observation Satellite (MOS-1)
Launch Date: February 19, 1987
Launch Location: Tanegashima Space Center, Japan
The Marine Observation Satellite (MOS-1) was equipped with three types of sensors: a spectrometer for measuring visible near infrared radiation, a device for measuring visible thermal infrared radiation, and an instrument for measuring microwave radiation. These sensors finished sending information on November 29, 1995.
MOS-1b, which had the same functions as MOS-1, was launched as a follow-up and finished its operation on April 17, 1996.
Modular Optoelectronic Multispectral Scanner (MOMS)
Launch Date: June 18, 1983
The Modular Optoelectronic Multispectral Scanner (MOMS) was a camera mounted on the Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS-01), which launched as a free-flyer platform (the image above shows the SPAS platform that MOMS was mounted on). The scanning system had airborne and, predominantly spaceborne, geoscientific remote sensing applications . The first version, MOMS-01, was developed by order of the German Minister for Research and Technology under contract from the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR).
The most important characteristic of MOMS was the modular arrangement of the CCD-sensor, electronics, optical lens system, and filters. This arrangement allowed the instrument to be adapted for completely different geoscientific tasks or missions. The multispectral mode of MOMS enabled geologic mapping, mineral resources exploration, hydrology, mapping and monitoring of renewable resources (agriculture, forestry, urban and regional planning), coastal zone monitoring, and topographic mapping.
The first two flights of MOMS-01 took place on board the Space Shuttle missions STS-7 and STS-11 in 1983 and 1984, respectively.