10967 - Seasat 1

The Ocean Dynamics Satellite (Seasat 1) was designed to provide measurements of sea-surface winds, sea-surface temperatures, wave heights, internal waves, atmospheric liquid water content, sea ice features, ocean features, ocean topography, and the marine geoid. Seasat 1 provided 95% global coverage every 36 h.

The instrument payload consisted of (1) an X-band compressed pulse radar altimeter (ALT), (2) a coherent synthetic aperture radar (SAR), (3) a Seasat-A scatterometer system (SASS), (4) a scanning multichannel microwave radiometer (SMMR), and (5) a visible and infrared radiometer (VIRR). The accuracies obtained were distance between spacecraft and ocean surface to 10 cm, wind speeds to 2 m/s, and surface temperatures to 1 deg C.

On October 10, 1978, Seasat 1 failed due to a massive short circuit in its electrical system. During most of its 105 days in orbit, Seasat 1 returned a unique and extensive set of observations of the earth's oceans.

Alternate Names

Seasat-A

Facts in Brief

Launch Date: 1978-06-27
Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Agena
Launch Site: Vandenberg AFB, United States
Mass: 1800.0 kg