Earth Observing-1

Earth Observing-1

Mission type	Earth observation
Operator	NASA / GSFC
COSPAR ID	2000-075A
SATCAT №	26619
Website	eo1.gsfc.nasa.gov
Mission duration	1 year (planned) 15 years (ongoing)
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer	Swales Aerospace Northrop Grumman
Launch mass	573 kilograms (1,263 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	21 November 2000, 18:24:25 (2000-11-21UTC18:24:25Z) UTC
Rocket	Delta II 7320-10C
Launch site	Vandenberg SLC-2W
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Sun-synchronous
Semi-major axis	7,058 kilometres (4,386 mi)
Eccentricity	7.0691365E-4
Perigee	690.0 kilometers (428.7 mi)
Apogee	700.0 kilometers (435.0 mi)
Inclination	97.503 degrees
Period	98.7 minutes
Instruments
Advanced Land Imager (ALI) Hyperspectral Imager (Hyperion) Atmospheric Corrector

The Earth Observing-1 Mission (EO-1) satellite is part of NASA's New Millennium Program (NMP), to develop and validate a number of instrument and spacecraft bus breakthrough technologies designed to enable the development of future earth imaging observatories that will have a significant increase in performance while also having reduced cost and mass.

Its Advanced Land Imager (ALI) measures nine different wavelengths simultaneously, instead of the seven measured by the imager in Landsat 7. This permits a greater flexibility in false-color imagery. Another improvement is that instead of having an imaging spectrometer that sweeps from side to side, the ALI has a linear array of spectrometers that each scan a strip of ground parallel to that of adjacent spectrometers. In order to compare the two imagers, EO-1 follows Landsat 7 in its orbit by exactly one minute. Other new technologies include:

• Hyperion imaging spectrometer recording more than 200 wavelengths;
• phased array communications antenna;
• optical fiber cables connect the data logger with the two IBM RAD6000s;
• teflon-fuelled pulsed plasma thruster;
• lightweight, flexible solar panel;
• carbon-coated radiators for thermal control;
• Linear Etalon Imaging Spectrometer Array equipped with a new atmospheric correction device.

EO-1 has also been used to test new software, like the Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment. This allows the spacecraft to decide for itself how best to create a desired image. It is only limited by a priority list of different types of images, and by forecasts of cloud cover provided by the NOAA.

It was expected to function for twelve months and was designed to function for eighteen months. Those expectations have been greatly exceeded.

See also

• Earth observation satellite

External links

• Earth Observing-1 at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center