Objectives and Applications
6-year nominal mission life, currently in extended operations. Atmospheric dynamics / water and energy cycles, cloud formation, precipitation and radiative properties, air / sea fluxes of energy and moisture, sea ice extent and heat exchange with the atmosphere. The HSB instrument failed on the 5th of February 2003.
Full Name
Aqua (formerly EOS PM-1)
aka EOS PM-1
Mission Status
Operational (extended)
Mission Agencies
Launch Date
04 May 2002
Mission Links
EOL Date
Sep 2026
Orbit Type
Sun-synchronous
Orbit Period
98.8 minutes
Orbit Sense
Ascending
Orbit Inclination
98.2 deg
Orbit Altitude
705 km
Orbit Longitude
Orbit LST
13:50
Repeat Cycle
16 days
NORAD Catalog #
International Designator
AIRS - Atmospheric Infra-red Sounder |
AMSR-E - Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS |
| AMSU-A - Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A |
| CERES - Cloud and the Earth's Radiant Energy System |
| HSB - Humidity Sounder for Brazil |
| MODIS - MODerate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer |
| Category | Parameter | Instrument(s) |
| Atmosphere | Aerosols | MODIS |
| Atmospheric Humidity Fields | AIRS, AMSR-E, AMSU-A, HSB, MODIS |
| Cloud type, amount and cloud top temperature | AIRS, AMSU-A, MODIS |
| Cloud particle properties and profile | AMSR-E, AMSU-A, HSB, MODIS |
| Liquid water and precipitation rate | AIRS, AMSR-E, AMSU-A |
| Ozone | AIRS, MODIS |
| Radiation budget | AIRS, AMSU-A, CERES, MODIS |
| Trace gases (excluding ozone) | AIRS |
| Atmospheric Temperature Fields | AIRS, AMSU-A, MODIS |
| Land | Albedo and reflectance | MODIS |
| Soil moisture | AMSR-E, AMSU-A |
| Vegetation | MODIS |
| Surface temperature (land) | AIRS, AMSU-A, MODIS |
| Multi-purpose imagery (land) | MODIS |
| Ocean | Ocean colour/biology | MODIS |
| Ocean surface winds | AMSR-E, AMSU-A |
| Surface temperature (ocean) | AIRS, AMSR-E, MODIS |
| Multi-purpose imagery (ocean) | MODIS |
| Snow & Ice | Snow cover, edge and depth | AIRS, AMSR-E, AMSU-A, MODIS |
| Sea ice cover, edge and thickness | AIRS, AMSR-E, AMSU-A, MODIS |