Tag: Earth observation
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NOAA satellite sends back view of planet Earth
NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera, or EPIC, instrument aboard NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory captured this image of Earth on July 6, showing North and South America. Credit: NASA Fulfilling an idea dreamed up by former Vice President Al Gore more than 17 years ago, NASA has released the first in a daily series of…
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Orbital sail, Earth-watching satellites launched by PSLV
A video frame from India’s launch broadcast of Friday’s PSLV mission. Credit: ISRO Five satellites made in Britain to track the expansion of Chinese cities and demonstrate a new sail design to clean up space junk blasted off Friday on top of an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. Making its 30th flight since 1993, the…
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British satellites set to ride Indian rocket into space
The PSLV’s second stage is hoisted onto the rocket during stacking operations at the Satish Dhawan Space Center on India’s east coast. Credit: ISRO India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is set for liftoff Friday with five satellites built in Britain to look down on Earth and test a solar sail’s ability to clean up space…
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New satellite joins Europe’s growing Earth observing network
The Vega rocket with Sentinel 2A blasted off at 0151:58 GMT Tuesday (9:51:58 p.m. EDT Monday) from Kourou, French Guiana. Credit: ESA–M. Pedoussaut, 2015 A new satellite to monitor crops, pollution and the growth of cities blasted off Monday from a tropical spaceport in French Guiana, adding another piece to Europe’s multibillion-dollar fleet of spacecraft…
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‘Europe’s Landsat’ in the starting blocks
Artist’s concept of the Sentinel 2A satellite in orbit. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab The first in a planned multi-decade series of European land imaging satellites is fastened on top of a solid-fueled Vega launcher at a French Guiana space base for liftoff Monday, kicking off a mission to track everything from global crop growth to urban…
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International ocean research observatory fails in orbit
Credit: CONAE An Argentine satellite hosting a NASA sensor designed to measure the saltiness of Earth’s oceans has ended its mission after four years in orbit, NASA said Wednesday. The Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas-D, or SAC-D, spacecraft ended its mission June 8 when part of its power and attitude control system failed, according to NASA.…
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Environmental satellite with ‘color vision’ lands in French Guiana
The Sentinel 2A spacecraft is seen during a solar array deployment test in early April at a test facility operated by IABG in Munich, Germany. Credit: ESA/M. Pedoussaut Wrapped inside a protective shipping container, Europe’s Sentinel 2A land imaging satellite flew from Germany to French Guiana this week aboard an Antonov transport plane to prepare…
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Multiple satellites planned in long-term Landsat program
Artist’s concept of Landsat 9, an upgraded rebuild of the Landsat 8 satellite launched in February 2013. Credit: NASA The launch of the next Landsat Earth-viewing satellite in 2023 will be preceded by a smaller spacecraft to map the planet with an infrared camera under a new land imaging roadmap outlined by NASA and the…
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Video: Delta 2 blasts off from Vandenberg
NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite blasts off aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket Saturday, launching into orbit on a three-year mission to measure moisture levels in Earth’s soils. The spacecraft launched at 6:22 a.m. PST (9:22 a.m. EST; 1422 GMT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The Delta 2’s upper stage…
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Soyuz rocket launches with Russian Earth observation craft
The Soyuz 2-1b rocket carrying the Resurs P2 satellite lifted off at 1855 GMT (1:55 p.m. EST) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credit: TsENKI TV A new Russian satellite streaked into orbit aboard a Soyuz rocket Friday, carrying high-resolution cameras to survey the globe and a plasma physics experiment to seek out signs of…