Multimedia - Terra As the Flagship Earth Observing Satellite, Terra was the first satellite to look at Earth system science with five sensors dedicated to observing the land, water, and atmosphere By seeing Earth from the same vantage point, but collecting multiple types of data dedicated to various areas of Earth science, scientists are able to document
Mission - Terra Terra observations reveal humanity’s impact on the planet and provide crucial data about natural hazards like fire and volcanoes See Terra science Terra is an international mission carrying instruments from the United States, Japan, and Canada
Terra | The EOS Flagship 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)
About Terra Processed Terra data are available through several NASA data centers Current life expectancy: Terra has far exceeded its design life and has a strong chance of operating successfully into the early 2020s Terra began drifting in February of 2020 Read more about Terra’s drifting or see key dates below Key dates of Drift
Celebrating 25 Years of Terra The week prior to the GSFC Visitor’s Center event, several members of the Terra mission community presented on 25 Years of Terra at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Washington, D C For more information, and a list of oral and poster presentations, visit the 25 Years of Terra @ AGU 2024, linked here!
Images - Terra Home for the Terra Satellite Earth Observing System
Data - Terra Terra’s five instruments produce 83 core data products which are distributed through the Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LPDAAC), the Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC), Ocean Color Web, Level 1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System, and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)
2025 | Terra Terra, which carries five instruments, launched in December 1999 on a six-year mission designed to study the planet’s land, ocean, atmosphere and biosphere simultaneously as the flagship mission of NASA’s Earth Observing system Terra is a partnership between the United States, Canada and Japan
ASTER | Terra Unlike the other instruments aboard Terra, ASTER will not collect data continuously; rather, it collects an average of 8 minutes of data per orbit All three ASTER telescopes (VNIR, SWIR, and TIR) are pointable in the crosstrack direction