Flood

Aqua, Latin for water, is a NASA Earth Science satellite mission named for the large amount of information that the mission is collecting about the Earth's water cycle. The Aqua mission is a part of the NASA-centered international Earth Observin System (EOS). Aqua was formerly named EOS PM, signifying its afternoon equatorial crossing time.
Aqua was launched on May 4, 2002, and has six Earth-observing instruments on board, collecting a variety of global data sets. Aqua was originally developed for a six-year design life but has now far exceeded that original goal and is expected to be operating into successfully into the early 2020s. It continues transmitting high-quality data from four of its six instruments, AIRS, AMSU, CERES, and MODIS, and reduced quality data from a fifth instrument, AMSR-E. The sixth Aqua instrument, HSB, collected approximately nine months of high quality data but failed in February 2003.

Instruments:
Atmospheric Infrared... read more

The government-owned Landsat 7 was successfully launched on April 15, 1999, from the Western Test Range of Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on a Delta-II expendable launch vehicle. The Earth observing instrument on Landsat 7, the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), replicates the capabilities of the highly successful Thematic Mapper instruments on Landsats 4 and 5.
Landsat 7 is the most accurately calibrated Earth-observing satellite, i.e., its measurements are extremely accurate when compared to the same measurements made on the ground.  Landsat 7’s sensor has been called “the most stable, best characterized Earth observation instrument ever placed in orbit.”  Landsat 7’s rigorous calibration standards have made it the validation choice for many coarse-resolution sensors.
Considered a calibration-triumph, the Landsat 7 mission went flawlessly until May 2003 when a hardware component failure left wedge-shaped spaces of missing data on either side of... read more

The satellites SPOT 4 (Satellite Probatoire de l'Observation de la Terre) was a second generation of SPOT earth observation satellite operated by Spot Image.

SPOT 4 used the improved bus design, which differed from the earlier SPOT series by having an increased lifetime of five years instead of three, a new extended platform design and service module, which can accommodate twice the payload. The propulsion module consists of a frame made of aluminum bars and two capillary tanks holding 158 kg of hydrazine.

The prime imaging instrument was HRVIR (High-Resolution Visible and Infrared sensor), which consisted of two pushbroom imaging units, an improved version of HRV. The two spectral modes are panchromatic and multispectral. The panchromatic band had a resolution of 10 meters, and the three multispectral bands (G,R,NIR) have resolutions of 20 meters.

An additional sensor for SPOT-4, called Vegetation or VMI (Vegetation Monitoring Instrument), with a ground swath... read more

The satellites SPOT 1, 2 and 3 (Satellite Probatoire de l'Observation de la Terre) were the first generation of SPOT earth observation satellites operated by Spot Image.

The first generation SPOT satellites were built on the SPOT Mk.1 bus with a lifetime of three years.

The SPOT satellites were identical, with each carrying two identical HRV (High Resolution Visible) imaging instruments that were able to operate in two modes, either simultaneously or individually. The two spectral modes are panchromatic and multispectral. The panchromatic band had a resolution of 10 meters, and the three multispectral bands (G,R,NIR) have resolutions of 20 meters.

SPOT-2 was launched on 22 January 1990, on an Ariane-40 H10 rocket. It operated until July 2009. Its orbit was lowered to ensure reentry within 25 years.

Instruments: 2 HRVs
- 4 spectral bands (1 panchromatic, 3 multispectral)
- imaging swath: 60km x 60km to 80km