Science of the Aqua Mission

By:Michael BantaESS 5th class

Ms. JakubowycDecember 7, 2006

Who made the Aqua Mission?

• Goddard Space Flight Center• NASA• Kennedy Space Center • NASA Johnson Space Center• National Space Development Agency

Japan

How big is Aqua Mission?

• The Aqua spacecraft was about weighing 10,506 pounds (4,645 kg).

• The size was about 59.4 by 63.1 kilometers.

Picture of Aqua Mission

Aqua's mission goals

Aqua will focus on collecting data for the temperature and water, global precipitation and sea ice, sea surface temperature and ocean productivity.

Instrument Background• The first CERES was launched on the Tropical

Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) in November 1997. The second and third CERES are on Terra. The next two are on Aqua.

• The first MODIS is on Terra; the second is on Aqua. The Aqua MODIS incorporates several improvements.

• The first AIRS is on Aqua. Its companion instruments, the AMSU and HSB, are similar to instruments on NOAA satellites.

• The first AMSR-E is on Aqua. It follows on the heritage of earlier passive-microwave instruments.

CERES

MODIS

AIRS

AMSR-E

Basics of Aqua Mission

• The Aqua spacecraft will carry six distinct instruments to measure numerous aspects of the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans and biosphere.– Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS)– Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU)– Humidity Sounder for Brazil (HSB)– Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E)– Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES; two)– Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)

• Aqua is part of the international Earth Observing System (EOS) program, centered at NASA.

Aqua Orbit

• Aqua is positioned in a near-polar orbit around the Earth at an altitude of 705 km in.

http://aqua.nasa.gov/doc/viz/media/aqua_orbit.mpg

Measurement Ranges ______________________________________ visible | infrared | microwave _______|____________ |_________________

| -- MODIS -- | | ---- AIRS ---- || ---------- CERES ------ | |-| HSB | --- AMSR-E --- | |----| |---| AMSU A1 A2

Key MODIS Data Products

• Oceans– Sea surface temperature– sea ice cover – sea ice– Clouds– water– temperature– water vapor profiles.

The Aqua Mission use special scan all around the Global water.

Why did I pick Mission?

Because it’s very interesting of mission. Important to understanding of the global water cycle and the Earth’s climate system. We must know measuring of water. we care about water because wedon’t want waste our water and of course we need to drink of water. Keep Clean and Fresh!

I cannot live without WATER!

SENSOR DATA

- AIRS DATA

-The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer Earth Observing System (AMSR-E)

- Ocean Color Data

The Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES)

Reference • http://www.aqua.nasa.gov/science/images_data.php• http://aqua.nasa.gov/doc/presentations/TRWDec2001.ppt#297,30,The EOS

Afternoon Satellite Constellation• http://aqua.nasa.gov/doc/presentations/TRWDec2001.ppt#260,3,The Aqua

Science Instruments p.1, the Sounding Suite• http://aqua.nasa.gov/doc/presentations/TRWDec2001.ppt#280,2,Basics• http://aqua.nasa.gov/doc/presentations/TRWDec2001.ppt#290,5,Instrument

Background