Terra: the EOS Flagship

UPDATE ON ASTER VNIR/TIR: After investigation and monitoring of platform battery status, the Terra Flight Operations Team (FOT) determined that there was sufficient power to resume imaging with ASTER’s VNIR instrument.  The FOT will continue to monitor the power usage, but as a result, ASTER once again began collecting VNIR data on January 17, 2025.  The team is currently working to restart ASTER TIR data collection, and updates will be posted here. To view recent imagery, visit this linked Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center webpage.
MOPITT in Safe Mode:
On February 1st, 2025 the Terra Measurement of Pollution in The Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument went into safe mode.
While in safe mode, there will be no MOPITT science data collected.
Image of space craft and four multi-colored globes, with the words "Celebrating 25 Years of Terra" across the top, the NASA logo, and the years 1999 - 2024 near the bottom.
Click the banner above for more information about this monumental landmark for the Terra Mission!

Terra: The EOS Flagship

Terra explores the connections between Earth’s atmosphere, land, snow and ice, ocean, and energy balance to understand Earth’s climate and to map the impact of human activity and natural disasters on communities and ecosystems

Connecting Earth’s Systems with Terra’s Observations

Examples of each instrument’s capabilities (clockwise): land composition (ASTER), reflected energy (CERES), aerosols (MISR), vegetation snow and ice (MODIS), carbon monoxide (MOPITT)

 

Important Terra Updates and Information


Terra mission updates related to platform power supply, instrument status, and other related information will be issued and posted as banners at the top of this page. For an archive of all previously-issued banners, please visit the Instrument Updates (Archive) page, linked here.

EOS Terra logo

Terra data users have expressed the need for weekly updates on Terra’s equator crossing time (in Mean Local Time), as well as orbital altitude. Starting this month, we’ll be adding this information to the Terra homepage and updating it weekly using data provided by the Operations Team. Move your cursor over the chart below to view both Terra’s Mean Local Equator Crossing Time in UTC and orbital altitude for each month through 2026.

Update on Terra’s New Orbit: Since 2020, Terra has been drifting to an earlier equator crossing time, and in October 2022 was lowered by ~5km in altitude. These changes in orbit did not reduce the data quality of Terra products, and only created minor changes to orbital repeat time and swath width (for some instruments). See Terra’s New Orbit for more information.

Equator crossing time: 9:59 (mean local time)
Equator Crossing Time
9:26 AM (Mean Local Time)
Orbital Altitude 692 km
Orbital Altitude
694 KM

(Updated April 2025)


Terra news
Valentine’s Day 2025

2024 Terra Social Media Stories



Click the links below to catch up on all the latest Terra news and updates!

Past News Features

  • Valentine’s Day 2025
    Another year, another cheesy Valentine’s Day card from the Terra mission! (And speaking of 25 years, check out pictures and slideshows from our 25th Anniversary Event at GSFC’s Visitor’s Center, linked here!)
  • 2024 Terra Social Media Stories
    2024 was a busy year for the Terra mission, as we handled platform battery charging changes, performed a yaw maneuver, and celebrated Terra’s 25th Anniversary– all while continuing to support the uninterrupted collection of daily Earth observations! Let’s take a moment to look back at the top-shared monthly Terra stories on the social media platform …

    2024 Terra Social Media Stories Read More »

  • Terra 2024 Thanksgiving Greetings!
    This year has been a busy one for Terra, with our 25th Anniversary just around the corner! (Learn more and RSVP here!) In the season of thanksgiving, Terra is especially grateful for the following: Thanks again for all of your support over the years! Wishing you all a relaxing holiday full of food and friends!

Terra’s Lower Orbit Virtual Community Forum

NASA’s Terra, Aqua, and Aura Drifting Orbits Workshop Information

Animated Overview of the Request for Information

Terra Begins Drifting. What’s Next?

After more than 20 years orbiting at 705 km above Earth’s surface and routinely crossing the equator at approximately the same time every day, Terra is now drifting. With no maneuvers planned to sustain Terra’s altitude and crossing time, Terra will slowly get closer and closer to Earth – crossing the equator earlier and earlier as time passes. However, despite impacts to some of Terra’s nearly 100 data products, Terra’s five sensors continue to collect meaningful scientific data, producing one of the longest continuous climate data records collected by a satellite. Read more…

Terra: Providing Critical Data to Help Society

Terra’s five sensors help us understand out changing planet and provide critical data used in applications from food security, volcanic monitoring, wildfire safety, public health, and climate modeling. Terra’s twenty years of data continue to contribute to how we understand Earth and how we respond when disasters strike.

Twenty Years of Terra in Our Lives

Terra’s suite of instruments allows us to understand our world well beyond what we knew twenty years ago, when Terra launched. In those twenty years, new applications and contributions to science have been made possible.

There is no question that technology has changed. But, at the same time that our lives on Earth were being shaped by our access to technology, 705 kilometers above us, a satellite was changing how we understood our planet.

For 20 years, Terra, the flagship Earth observing satellite,
has chronicled changes on Earth. Designed and built in the 1980s and 90s, NASA and Lockheed Martin engineers set out to build a satellite that could take simultaneous measurements of Earth’s atmosphere, land, and water. Its mission – to understand how Earth is changing and to identify the consequences for life on Earth. Season after season, Terra data continues to help
us understand how the evolving systems of our planet affect our lives – and how
we can use that data to benefit society. Read more and find resources from our anniversary events, Terra 20 Events

Update on Terra’s New Orbit: Since 2020, Terra has been drifting to an earlier equator crossing time, and in October 2022 was lowered by ~5km in altitude. These changes in orbit did not reduce the data quality of Terra products, and only created minor changes to orbital repeat time and swath width (for some instruments). See Terra’s New Orbit for more information.

Science Visualizations

ASTER

ASTER

CERES

CERES

MISR

MISR

Ocean Color in Gulf of Alaska

MODIS

MOPITT Globe

MOPITT