How will the Earth system change in the future? Missions

As the world consumes ever more fossil fuel energy, greenhouse gas concentrations will continue to rise and Earth's average temperature will rise with them. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (or IPCC) estimates that Earth's average surface temperature could rise between 2°C and 6°C by the end of the 21st century.

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Launch Date	A-Z	Phase
20020504 09:55:00 GMT-4 May 04, 2002	Aqua Aqua will obtain a set of precise atmosphere and oceans measurements to understand their role in Earth's climate and its variations. Aqua carries six state-of-the-art...	Operating
20100522 20:00:00 USEastern May 22, 2010	Aquarius Aquarius is a focused satellite mission to measure global sea surface salinity (SSS). Its instruments will measure changes in SSS equivalent to about a "pinch" (i.e., 1/6 of...	Development
20040716 July 15, 2004	Aura The Aura satellite hosts a suite of scientific instruments designed to make the most comprehensive measurements ever undertaken of atmospheric trace gases. Aura's objective...	Operating
20060429 April 28, 2006	CALIPSO The CALIPSO satellite was developed to help scientists answer significant questions and provide new information about the effects of clouds and aerosols (airborne particles)...	Operating
20090616 19:00:00 USEastern June 16, 2009	GLORY Glory is a remote-sensing Earth-orbiting observatory designed to achieve two separate mission objectives. One is to collect data on the chemical, microphysical, and optical...	Development
20130602 June 01, 2013	GPM GPM Constellation follows the success of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) in initiating the measurement of global precipitation, a key climate factor. Its science...	Under Study
20110712 July 11, 2011	LDCM LDCM is a joint NASA-United States Geological Survey (USGS) mission to extend the Landsat record of multispectral, 30-meter resolution, seasonal, global coverage of the...	Under Study
20100602 June 02, 2010	NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) NPP is a joint mission to extend key measurements in support of long term monitoring of climate trends and of global biological productivity. This mission is part of SMD's...	Development
20081216 December 15, 2008	OCO OCO provides space-based observations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal human-initiated driver of climate change. This mission uses mature technologies to...	Development
20080620 20:00:00 USEastern June 20, 2008	OSTM OSTM measures sea surface height to an accuracy of < 3.3 cm every ten days. Sea surface topography measured by satellite altimeters has numerous applications important to...	Operating
20120101 2012	SMAP The Soil Moisture Active-Passive (SMAP) will use a combined radiometer and high-resolution radar to measure surface soil moisture and freeze-thaw state, providing for...	Under Study
19991219 December 18, 1999	Terra Terra (formerly EOS AM-1) is the flagship satellite of NASA's Earth observing systems. Terra is the first EOS (Earth Observing System) platform and provides global data on...	Operating
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
19971128 November 27, 1997	TRMM TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the National Space Development Agency (NASDA) of Japan. TRMM is particularly devoted to determining rainfall in the tropics and...	Operating

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How will the Earth system change in the future? Missions