EO-1 Extended Mission Update and Orbit Lowering Statement

 

NASA has extended the EO-1 mission through FY07, with the possibility of further extensions. In this mission phase, EO-1 has been transformed into an on-orbit test bed for advanced technology and hyperspectral research; however, individual users can still acquire new scenes or archived scenes through the USGS.

As of October 1, 2005, the EO-1 mission transitioned to lower cost, highly autonomous operations through primarily unmanned ground and satellite operations. Under this new operations arrangement, EO-1 data are delivered to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and processed to a Level 0 product. GSFC then forwards the L0 product to the EO-1 long-term archive at the USGS Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) where the data can be accessed using Earth Explorer or GloVis and ordered at the cost of fulfilling a user request. The USGS/EROS will continue to accept and submit to NASA new EO-1 data acquisition requests (DARs) on behalf of the EO-1 user community for a nominal fee for setup and tracking of each DAR. Since EO-1 will continue to be used for technology tests, non-NASA user requests will be handled on a non-interference basis, which has not been a problem so far. For further information on how to submit a DAR, refer to the USGS EO-1 web site.

NASA is also conducting small orbit lowering maneuvers that have taken EO-1 out of formation flying with Landsat 7. This gradual positioning of the satellite is in preparation for eventual re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. The initial maneuver occurred on September 25, 2005, which lowered the orbit by about 5-6 km. Every 4-5 weeks thereafter, the EO-1 orbit is lowered another kilometer to maintain a fixed mean local overpass time at slightly greater than 10:00 a.m. With continued support, EO-1 could collect remote sensing data until 2011 when all its fuel will be expended and EO-1 will have arrived at its determined re-entry altitude. Please direct further questions to USGS EROS Customer Services at custserv@usgs.gov.