AQUA (previously named EOS PM-1) is a major American (NASA) hydrology satellite that was launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg AFB at 09:55 UT on 2002 May 4. With dimensions 4.8 m x 8.4 m x 16.7 m (including solar sails), mass of 1.75 tons, and power of 4.86 kW, it carries six instrument packages of additional mass of 1.08 tons to study the global water cycle in the oceans, ice caps, land masses, and the atmosphere.
The Earth Observing System (EOS) is a science and observation program that will provide long-term (15-year) data sets for Earth system science in order to gain an understanding of the interactions between Earth's land, atmosphere, oceans, and biology. The EOS is the centerpiece of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth (MTPE). The EOS program was restructured in response to direction from the EOS Engineering Review Committee, U.S. Congress, and the EOS Payload Advisory Panel to fly EOS instruments on intermediate-sized and smaller spacecraft instead of on large space platforms.
The EOS-PM1 is an afternoon equator-crossing platform which includes a suite of sensors designed to study the diurnal properties of cloud and aerosol radiative fluxes, cloud formation, and precipitation (MIMR, AIRS/AMSU-A/MHS, and MODIS-N) in conjunction with a wind scatterometer planned for the Japanese ADEOS-II spacecraft. MIMR, MODIS-N, and AIRS will contribute to studies of sea-ice extent and heat exchange with the atmosphere.
Data from the EOS-PM1 platform and the sensors on the TRMM spacecraft will combined to assess the utility and accuracy of precipitation measurements. MODIS-N and MIMR will allow the mapping of snow water equivalent and the monitoring of variability and change of the climate and hydrological systems. The EOS-PM1 is to be launched using an Atlas IIAS launch vehicle into a polar orbit in 2000.
Alternate Names
EOS-PM1
Facts in Brief
Launch Date: 2002-05-04
Launch Vehicle: Delta II
Launch Site: Vandenberg AFB, United States
Mass: 3117.0 kg
Nominal Power: 4444.0 W