Earth Science Past Missions - Science Mission Directorate

Earth Science Past Missions (27)

These missions explored the boundaries of our understanding of the complex, dynamic system we call the Earth. They have been retired, but are not forgotten. We hope they inspire the next generation of explorers by providing opportunities for learners of all ages to discover the exciting past efforts by NASA in its research

*Sort missions by clicking Launch Date, A-Z, or PHASE column headers.

Launch Date	A-Z	Phase
19960817 August 17, 1996	ADEOS Advanced Earth Observing Satellite (ADEOS) was the first international space platform dedicated to Earth environmental research developed and managed by the National Space...	Past
19920324 March 24, 1992	ATLAS ATLAS missions were part of Phase I of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth, a large-scale, unified study of planet Earth as a single, dynamic system. Throughout the ATLAS series,...	Past
19661207 December 07, 1966	ATS The Applications Technology Satellite series was a set of 6 NASA spacecraft created to explore & flight test new technologies and techniques for communications,...	Past
20000715 July 15, 2000	CHAMP CHAMP will generate for the first time simultaneously highly precise gravity and magnetic field measurements over a 5 years period. This will allow us to detect besides the...	Past
19900725 July 25, 1990	CRRES The Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite (CRRES) was launched into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) for a nominal three-year mission to investigate fields,...	Past
19810803 August 03, 1981	Dynamics Explorer The Dynamics Explorer Plasma Wave Investigator mission's general objective was to investigate the strong interactive processes coupling the hot, tenuous, convecting plasmas...	Past
19841005 October 05, 1984	ERBS Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS), expected to have a two-year operation life, provided scientific data about the Earth's ozone layer for more than two decades. ERBS...	Past
19910717 July 17, 1991	ERS The European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS-1) is the most sophisticated Earth observation satellite ever developed in Europe. It weighs well over two tons and, fully...	Past
19660203 February 03, 1966	ESSA The Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) Satellite Program provided cloud-cover photography to the American National Meteorological Center from 1966 –...	Past
19850312 March 12, 1985	Geosat The U.S. Navy GEOdetic SATellite, GEOSAT, was launched on 12 March 1985, into an 800-km, 108-deg inclination orbit, carried an altimeter that was capable of measuring the...	Past
19751016 October 16, 1975	GOES A - C The launch of the prototype Synchronous Meteorological Satellite, SMS-A, in May 1974 inaugurated the series of geosynchronous satellites that has provided systematic,...	Past
19800909 September 09, 1980	GOES D - H GOES-4 advanced meteorologists’ capabilities by continuously profiling vertical temperature and water vapor. This major advancement permitted, for the first time, the...	Past
19830618 June 18, 1983	MOMS The Modular Optoelectronic Multispectral Scanner (MOMS) is a scanning system (based on CCD technique) for airborne and predominantly spaceborne geoscientific remote sensing...	Past
19870219 February 19, 1987	MOS Marine Observation Satellite (MOS-1), Japan's first marine observation satellite, was launched in 1987 as a link in a global satellite observation system for more effective...	Past
19640828 August 27, 1964	Nimbus The Nimbus series of missions was the United States’ primary research and development platform for satellite remote-sensing of the Earth. The satellites increased the...	Past
19930328 March 28, 1993	NOAA/POES Since the 1960s, NASA has developed polar-orbiting environmental observation satellites for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NOAA satellites...	Past
19951104 November 04, 1995	Radarsat Canada's Radarsat is a radar satellite featuring variable resolution, and different view angles at a number of preset...	Past
20011210 December 10, 2001	SAGE III The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III (SAGE III) was an Earth Observing System (EOS) - joint mission between the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration...	Past
19780627 June 27, 1978	Seasat 1 The Ocean Dynamics Satellite (Seasat 1) was designed to provide measurements of sea-surface winds, sea-surface temperatures, wave heights, internal waves, atmospheric liquid...	Past
19940419 April 19, 1994	SIR-C Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR), part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth, is studying how our global environment is changing. From the unique vantage point of space, the...	Past
19740517 May 17, 1974	SMS The Synchronous Meterological Satellites were the first operational spacecrafts to sense meteorological conditions from a fixed location. They carried instrumentation for...	Past
20000211 February 11, 2000	SRTM The goal of SRTM, a joint project of NASA, NIMA, and the German and Italian space agencies, is to map the world in three dimensions. In its 11-day mission on STS-99 in...	Past
19990518 May 18, 1999	TERRIERS TERRIERS was a very small "University-class" Explorer intended to study a number of ionospheric and thermospheric phenomena, and test the utility of long term solar EUV...	Past
19600401 April 01, 1960	TIROS TIROS spacecraft were the beginning of a long series of polar-orbiting meteorological satellites. The objective was to establish a global weather satellite...	Past
19960702 20:00:00 GMT-4 July 02, 1996	TOMS-EP The Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer, launched in July 1996 onboard an Earth Probe Satellite (TOMS/EP), continues NASA's long-term daily mapping of the global distribution of...	Past
19920810 August 10, 1992	TOPEX/Poseidon TOPEX/Poseidon monitored global ocean circulation, improved global climate predictions, and tracked El Niño conditions and ocean eddies. The mission's most important...	Past
19910912 September 12, 1991	UARS Launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery on September 15, 1991, UARS orbited the Earth more than 78,000 times, using 10 onboard scientific instruments to collect data on a...	Past

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Earth Science Past Missions (27)