26619 - EO 1

EO 1 (Earth Observing mission 1) is the first spacecraft in the American New Millennium Program (NMP) and was launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg AFB at 13:24 UT on 2000 Nov 21. The initial orbital parameters were period 98.7 min, apogee 700 km, perigee 690 km, and inclination 98.21 deg.

The 573-kg spacecraft carries three well-developed instruments (and seven technology-test items) to image Earth's surface in numerous wavelength bands. The Hyperion is a grating-imaging spectrometer and will image the surface in 220 spectral bands covering 0.4-2.5 micron wavelengths at a resolution of 30 meters. It is expected to provide better crop estimates, and better mineral resource areas than are being provided by LANDSAT 7.

The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) is a wide-field (15 deg x 1.26 deg) reflective optics telescope that will provide images in 10 wavelength bands covering 0.4-2.4 microns with a spatial resolution of 30 meters. It is designed to produce images that are directly comparable to the ones from the ETM+ (Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus) instrument on board LANDSAT 7, and thus provide continuity of data.

The third instrument, LAC (LEISA Atmospheric Corrector) covers the 0.890-1.600 micron wavelength IR band by means of a wedged etalon filter and three arrays (256 x 256) of In-Ga detectors, each array covering a five deg swath width with a spatial resolution of 250 meters. It will aid in correcting the data from the other instruments for water vapor and cirrus cloud variations.

Among the new technology test/demonstration items is the XPAA (X-band Phased Array Antenna) with 64 elements powered by a 160-W transmitter that sends data at a rate of 105 MB per second.

Alternate Names

Earth Observing mission 1

Facts in Brief

Launch Date: 2000-11-21
Launch Vehicle: Delta II
Launch Site: Vandenberg AFB, United States
Mass: 573.0 kg