Terra Aqua Aura Satellites

Terra aqua aura the earth observing system of environmental satellites terra is the flagship of nasa s earth observing system of satellites gazing down on our planet measuring how land ocean air ice and life work together.
Terra aqua aura satellites. Get the latest updates on nasa missions watch nasa tv live and learn about our quest to reveal the unknown and benefit all humankind. Today eos is made up of 18 earth observing satellites that have revolutionized our ability to observe our. Aqua eos pm 1 is a nasa scientific research satellite in orbit around the earth studying the precipitation evaporation and cycling of water it is the second major component of the earth observing system eos preceded by terra launched 1999 and followed by aura launched 2004. A naming contest was held by nasa among u s.
Aura eos ch 1 is a multi national nasa scientific research satellite in orbit around the earth studying the earth s ozone layer air quality and climate it is the third major component of the earth observing system eos following on terra launched 1999 and aqua launched 2002. Aura is part of a flotilla of satellites flying in formation in space including terra aqua cloudsat parasol and calipso. The afternoon train or a train for short is a constellation of satellites that travel one behind the other along the same track as they orbit earth. Terra s five instruments produce 83 core data products which are distributed through the land processes distributed active archive center lpdaac the atmospheric science data center asdc ocean color web level 1 and atmosphere archive and distribution system and the national snow and ice data center nsidc.
Aura examines trace gasses in the atmosphere so we can better understand global climate change global warming the global movement of polluted air and ozone depletion in the stratosphere. It is the flagship of the earth observing system eos. The winning essay was submitted by sasha jones of brentwood missouri. The name aqua comes from the latin word for water.
Gcom w1 and oco 2 are scheduled to join the configuration in 2012 and 2013 respectively. Four satellites currently fly in the a train aqua cloudsat calipso and aura. The name terra comes from the latin word for earth. The second member to be launched was aura in july 2004 the third member was parasol in december 2004 and the fourth and fifth members are cloudsat and calipso in may 2006 and the sixth member was gcom w1 in may 2012.
Nasa gov brings you the latest images videos and news from america s space agency. Terra eos am 1 is a multi national nasa scientific research satellite in a sun synchronous orbit around the earth. The satellite was launched from vandenberg air force. Aura follows on from the upper atmosphere research satellite uars aura is a joint mission between nasa the.