AQUA

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

Orbit Characteristics

Sun synchronous, near-polar orbit
Equatorial Crossing 1:30 p.m., acsending 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

Aqua, Latin for water, is a NASA Earth Science satellite mission named for the large amount of information that the mission will be 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.