Earth is just the Beginning!
MISSION TO
PLANET EARTH
Earth science is an integrated study of the Earth's history, composition, and structure, its atmosphere and oceans, and its environment in space. Did you know that NASA studies the Earth in addition to other planets? NASA is a space agency. So, why study Earth? Because Earth is a planet too! They are important in helping us understand how our planet works. And the more we know, the better we can cope with the changes that are occurring.
So all set to learn more about NASA’s Earth Science Missions?TERRA
Terra (EOS AM-1) is a multi-national NASA scientific research satellite in a Sun- synchronous orbit around the Earth. It is the flagship of the Earth Observing System (EOS). The name "Terra" comes from the Latin word for Earth. A naming contest was held by NASA among U.S. high school students. The winning essay was submitted by Sasha Jones of Brentwood, Missouri. The identifier "AM-1" refers to its orbit, passing over the equator in the morning.
Launched on December 16 1999, Time: 18:57:39 UTCAQUA
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. Additional variables also being measured by Aqua include radiative energy fluxes, aerosols, vegetation cover on the land, phytoplankton and dissolved organic matter in the oceans, and air, land, and water temperatures.
Launched on May 4 2004, Time: 09:54:58 UTCSORCE
Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) is a NASA-sponsored satellite mission providing measurements of incoming X-ray, ultraviolet, visible, near infrared and total solar radiation. The measurements from SORCE address long-term climate change, natural changes and enhanced climate prediction, and atmospheric ozone and UV-B radiation.
Launched on 25 January 2003, Time: 15:14:00 UTCAura
Aura is a satellite designed to answer questions about changes in our life-sustaining atmosphere . It obtains measurements of ozone, aerosols and key gases throughout the atmosphere using technologically innovative space instrumentation. It is the third major component of the Earth Observing System following on Terra and Aqua.
Launched on 15 JULY 2004, Time: 10:01:51 UTCICESAT-2
ICESat-2 is part of NASA's Earth Observing System, is a satellite mission for measuring ice sheet mass elevation, sea ice freeboard as well as land topography,vegetation characteristics and clouds. It uses lasers and a very precise detection instrument to measure the elevation of Earth’s surface. By timing how long it takes laser beams to travel from the satellite to Earth and back, scientists can calculate the height of glaciers, sea ice, forests, lakes and more – including the changing ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica.
Launched on 5 September 2018, Time: 15:02:00 UTC
DO THE QUIZ