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AQUA

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Aqua's Instruments
Aqua carries six state-of-the-art instruments in a near-polar low-Earth orbit. Each has unique characteristics and capabilities, and all six serve together to form a powerful package for Earth observations. The six instruments are:
  • Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU-A)
  • Humidity Sounder for Brazil (HSB)
  • Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E)
  • Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)
  • Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES)
 
Mission Specification

aqua

Aqua, Latin for water, is a NASA Earth Science satellite mission named for the large amount of information that the mission is collecting about the Earth's water cycle, including evaporation from the oceans, water vapor in the atmosphere, clouds, precipitation, soil moisture, sea ice, land ice, and snow cover on the land and ice.
Launched in a sun-synchronous orbit on May 4, 2002 Aqua is second satellite in NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) that is equipped with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS).
 
Aqua is the EOS-PM satellite which together with the EOS-AM satellite let the MODIS instruments view the entire planet every 1 to 2 days.  Covering a swath width of 2330 km MODIS delivers sea surface temperature, atmospheric temperature, cloud temperature, cloud altitude, water vapor, ocean color and aerosol data.  MODIS sea surface temperature gridded products are available at near real time (link).

SPACECRAFT STATS

Orbit Characteristics

Sun synchronous, near-polar orbit

Equatorial Crossing   1:30 p.m., ascending node
Inclination   98°
Altitude   705 km
Period   99 minutes
Semi-major axis   7085 km
Eccentricity   0.0015

Launch Statistics

Vehicle   Two-stage Delta II 7920-10L with 9 strap-on solid rocket motors and 10 foot, bisector, composite fairing
Site   SLC-2W, Western Range, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Launch Date   May 4, 2002 @ 2:55 a.m. PDT
Window   1335 LMST to 1345 LMST (any day of the year)

Vital Statistics

Weight   (at launch) 2,934 kg (6,468 pounds)
Power   4,860 watts end of life
Size (stowed)   2.7 m (8.8 ft) x 2.5 m (8.2 ft) x 6.5 m (21.3 ft)
Size (deployed)   4.8 m (15.8 ft) x 16.7 m (54.8 ft) x 8 m (26.4 ft)
Mission Life   6 years