![]() Artist's rendering of the Aqua satellite | |
Names | EOS PM-1 |
---|---|
Mission type | Earth observation |
Operator | NASA |
COSPAR ID | 2002-022A |
SATCAT no. | 27424 |
Website | aqua.nasa.gov |
Mission duration | 6 years (planned) Elapsed: 22 years, 3 months and 13 days |
Spacecraft properties | |
Bus | T330 (AB-1200) |
Manufacturer | TRW |
Launch mass | 3,117 kilograms (6,872 lb) |
Dimensions | 4.81 m × 16.7 m × 8.04 m (15.8 ft × 54.8 ft × 26.4 ft) |
Power | 4.444 kilowatts |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | May 4, 2002, 09:54:58 | UTC
Rocket | Delta II 7920-10L D-291 |
Launch site | Vandenberg SLC-2W |
Contractor | Boeing |
End of mission | |
Last contact | 2026-2027 (planned) |
Decay date | 2046 (planned) |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Low Earth |
Semi-major axis | 7,080.6 kilometers (4,399.7 mi) |
Eccentricity | 0.0000979 |
Perigee altitude | 702 kilometers (436 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 703 kilometers (437 mi) |
Inclination | 98.1987° |
Period | 99 minutes |
RAAN | 95.2063° |
Argument of perigee | 120.4799° |
Mean anomaly | 351.4268° |
Mean motion | 14.57116559 |
Epoch | 02 June 2016, 10:25:37 UTC |
Revolution no. | 74897 |
![]() Logotype of the mission. Large Strategic Science Missions Earth Science Division |
Aqua (EOS PM-1) is a NASA scientific research satellite in orbit around the Earth, studying the precipitation, evaporation, and cycling of water. It is the second major component of the Earth Observing System (EOS) preceded by Terra (launched 1999) and followed by Aura (launched 2004).
The name "Aqua" comes from the Latin word for water. The satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on May 4, 2002, aboard a Delta II rocket. Aqua operated in a Sun-synchronous orbit as the third in the satellite formation called the "A Train" with several other satellites (OCO-2, the Japanese GCOM W1, PARASOL, CALIPSO, Cloud Sat, and Aura) for most of its first 20 years; but in January 2022 Aqua left the A-Train (as Cloud Sat, CALIPSO and PARASOL had already done) when, due to its fuel limitations, it transitioned to a free-drift mode, wherein its equatorial crossing time is slowly drifting to later times, from its tightly controlled orbit.[1]