CEOS EO HANDBOOK – MISSION SUMMARY - DMSP F-18 -
Full Name Defense Meteorological Satellite Program F-18 Status Operational (extended)
Mission Agencies NOAA, USAF Launch Date 18 Oct 2009
Mission Links mission site EOL Date Dec 2025
EO Portal Info NORAD Catalog # 35951 (TLE)
International Designator 2009-057A
Orbit Type Sun-synchronous Orbit Period 101 minutes
Orbit Sense Ascending Orbit Inclination 98.7 deg
Orbit Altitude 850 km Orbit Longitude
Orbit LST 17:31 Repeat Cycle
Objectives and Applications The long-term meteorological programme of the US Department of Defense (DoD) - with the objective to collect and disseminate worldwide cloud cover data on a daily basis.
Mission Measurements
CategoryParameterInstrument(s)
AtmosphereAtmospheric Humidity Fields SSM/IS
Cloud type, amount and cloud top temperature OLS
Liquid water and precipitation rate SSM/IS
Atmospheric Temperature Fields OLS, SSM/IS
Gravity and Magnetic FieldsGravity, Magnetic and Geodynamic measurements SSI/ES-3, SSM, SSULI, SSUSI
LandSoil moisture SSM/IS
Snow & IceSnow cover, edge and depth OLS, SSM/IS
Mission Instruments
OLS - Operational Linescan System
SSI/ES-3 - Special Sensor Ionospheric Plasma Drift/Scintillation Meter
SSM - Special Sensor Magnetometer
SSM/IS - Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder
SSULI - Special Sensor Ultraviolet Limb Imager
SSUSI - Special Sensor Ultraviolet Spectrographic Imager
OpenSearch Datasets No IDN OpenSearch datasets found.

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