Aqua Mission

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.

Mission Summary

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
EO Portal Info

Orbit Details

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

Mission Instruments

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

Mission Measurements

CategoryParameterInstrument(s)
AtmosphereAerosols 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
LandAlbedo and reflectance MODIS
Soil moisture AMSR-E, AMSU-A
Vegetation MODIS
Surface temperature (land) AIRS, AMSU-A, MODIS
Multi-purpose imagery (land) MODIS
OceanOcean colour/biology MODIS
Ocean surface winds AMSR-E, AMSU-A
Surface temperature (ocean) AIRS, AMSR-E, MODIS
Multi-purpose imagery (ocean) MODIS
Snow & IceSnow cover, edge and depth AIRS, AMSR-E, AMSU-A, MODIS
Sea ice cover, edge and thickness AIRS, AMSR-E, AMSU-A, MODIS

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