Features

Image from TERRA
Oregon's Milepost 97 Fire is Burning in Old Fire Scar
Fri, 02 Aug 2019 14:51 EDT

The Milepost 97 fire which is located about one mile southeast of Canyonville, Oregon was first reported on Wednesday, July 24th at approximately 10:00 p.m.

Image from TERRA
NASA Tracks Wildfires From Above to Aid Firefighters Below
Mon, 29 Jul 2019 12:00 EDT

Every evening from late spring to early fall, two planes lift off from airports in the western United States and fly through the sunset, each headed for an active wildfire, and then another, and another.

Image from TERRA
NASA Satellites Find Biggest Seaweed Bloom in the World
Mon, 08 Jul 2019 13:00 EDT

An uprecedented belt of brown algae stretches from West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico—and it’s likely here to stay. Scientists at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg's College of Marine Science used NASA satellite observations to discover and document the largest bloom of macroalgae in the world, dubbed the Great Atlantic Sargassum Bel

Home › About Terra

About Terra

Approximately the size of a small school bus, the Terra satellite carries five instruments that take coincident measurements of the Earth system:

Terra is in a circular sun-synchronous polar orbit that takes it from north to south (on the daylight side of the Earth) every 99 minutes.

PostPropLeakW_smallSpacecraft Quick Facts:

  • Launch Date: December 18,1999
  • Size: the spacecraft bus is 6.8 m long and 3.5 m across.
  • Weight: 5,190 kg (11,442 lbs.) at launch.

KSC-99PP-1412_web

 

Orbit Quick Facts: 

  • Altitude: 705 kilometers (438 miles) above Earth’s surface
  • Inclination: 98.5 degrees
  • Period: 99 minutes (16 orbits per day)
  • Equatorial crossing: 10:30 a.m., descending node

Terra Status:

  • Operating instruments: ASTER, CERES, MODIS, MISR, and MOPITT are operating well.  ASTER Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) data is unavailable.
  • Current life expectancy: Terra  has far exceeded its design life and has a strong chance of operating successfully into the early 2020s.
  • Current systems issues: None.
  • Processed Terra data are available through several NASA data centers.

Greater detail on the status of the Terra spacecraft, instruments, and mission are presented Terra Status File: