List of Earth observation satellites

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True color image of the Earth from space. This image is a composite image collected over 16 days by the MODIS sensor on NASA’s Terra satellite.
NASA Earth science satellite fleet as of September 2020, planned through 2023.
Earth observation satellite missions developed by the ESA as of 2019.

Earth observation satellites are Earth-orbiting spacecraft with sensors used to collect imagery and measurements of the surface of the earth. These satellites are used to monitor short-term weather, long-term climate change, natural disasters. Earth observations satellites provide information for research subjects that benefit from looking at Earth’s surface from above (such as meteorology, oceanography, terrestrial ecology, glaciology, atmospheric science, hydrology, geology, and many more). Types of sensors on these satellites include passive and active remote sensors. Sensors on Earth observation satellites often take measurements of emitted energy over some portion of the electromagnetic spectrum (e.g., UV, visible, infrared, microwave, or radio).[1]

The invention of climate research through the use of satellite remote telemetry began in the 1960s through development of space probes to study other planets. During the U.S. economic decline in 1977, with much of NASA's money going toward the shuttle program, the Reagan Administration proposed to reduce spending on planetary exploration. During this time, new scientific evidence emerged from ice and sediment cores that Earth's climate had experienced rapid changes in temperature, running contrary to the previously held belief that the climate changed on a geological time scale. These changes increased political interest in gathering remote-sensing data on the Earth itself and stimulated the science of climatology.[2]

Classification

The lists below classify Earth observation satellites in two large groups: satellites operated by government agencies of one or more countries (public domain) versus commercial satellites built and maintained by companies (private domain).[3] The satellite lifetime, between launch and reentry, is often called a satellite mission. These lists focus on currently active missions, rather than inactive retired missions or planned future missions. However, some examples of past and future satellites are included. Active, inactive, or planned classifications are relevant as of 2021.

Satellites launched by governmental agencies

Active government satellites

Inactive government satellites

Planned government satellites

Name Status Agency Description Launch date
Göktürk-3 Planned Turkish Ministry of National Defense Planned high resolution SAR satellite. 2025
SABIA-Mar Planned AEB and CONAE The mission objective is to study the oceanic biosphere, its changes over time, and how it is affected by and reacts to human activity.
HydroGNSS Planned ESA Two identical satellites sensing Galileo and GPS signals reflected by Earth's surface for improving the knowledge of Earth’s hydrological cycle. 2025
ALTIUS Planned ESA Monitoring the distribution and evolution of stratospheric ozone[41] 2026
FLEX Planned ESA FLuorescence EXplorer mission will globally monitor steady-state chlorophyll fluorescence in terrestrial vegetation. 2026
FORUM Planned ESA Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring; a mission to measure Earth's outgoing radiation emissions across the entire far-infrared electromagnetic spectrum. 2027
Harmony Planned ESA A pair of synthetic aperture radar satellites that aims to further the study of ocean circulation patterns, glacial dynamics, and changes in land-surface topography. 2029
Wivern Planned ESA The first space mission to measure winds inside clouds. 2032

Private or commercial satellites

Active commercial satellites

Name Status Owner/Agency Launch [note 1]
Disaster Monitoring Constellation[42] Active DMC International Imaging 2009
EROS A and B Active ImageSat International 2000
Flock-1 Constellation Active Planet 2014
GeoEye-1 Active Vantor 2008
GRUS (ja)-1A to E[43] Active Axelspace (ja)[44] 2018
ICEYE Active ICEYE 2018
Jilin-1 (Hyperspectral) Active Chang Guang Satellite Technology 2019
Jilin-1 (Optical Active Chang Guang Satellite Technology 2015
NovaSAR-S1[44] Active UK Space Agency and Surrey Satellite Technology 2018
PlanetScope-2[45] Active Planet 2016
SkySat-1 to 3 Active Planet 2013
SkySat-4 to 7 Active Planet 2016
SkySat-8 to 13 Active Planet 2017
SPOT 6 and 7 Active EADS Astrium Azercosmos, and CNES 2012
SuperView-1[46] Active Beijing Space View Technology 2018
TripleSat (UK-DMC 3)[47][48] Active DMC International Imaging 2015
Vivid-i 1 to 5[49] Active Earth-i[50] 2018
WorldView-1 Active Vantor 2007
WorldView-2 and 3 Active Vantor 2009
Pleiades Neo 3 Active Airbus Defence and Space 2021
Pleiades Neo 4 Active Airbus Defence and Space 2021
CO3D-1 to 4 Active Airbus Defence and Space / CNES 2025
Unicorn-2 Constellation Active Alba Orbital 2025

Inactive commercial satellites

Name Status Owner/Agency Launch [note 1] End of mission
IKONOS Inactive DigitalGlobe (Maxar) 1999 2015
QuickBird Inactive DigitalGlobe (Maxar) 2001 2015
RapidEye Inactive Planet 2008 2020[51]
WorldView-4 Inactive DigitalGlobe (Maxar) 2016 2019

Planned commercial satellites

Name Status Owner/Agency Launch [note 1] End of mission Description
Pléiades Neo Next [52] Planned Airbus Defence and Space 2027 Based on Airbus S950 Optical product

See also

NASA Water and Energy Cycle satellite missions as of 2006.
NASA Earth science satellites as of 2017.

Related lists:

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 For constellations of multiple satellites, launch year is listed here as the maiden launch year for the first satellite in the series.[4]

References

  1. Emery, William (2017). Introduction to satellite remote sensing : atmosphere, ocean, land and cryosphere applications. Amsterdam: Elsevier. ISBN 978-0-12-809259-0. OCLC 1002847813. 
  2. Jackson, Randal (2007). "Climate Change: NASA's Role". NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory\California Institute of Technology. https://climate.nasa.gov/NasaRole/. 
  3. Chuvieco, Emilio (2020). Fundamentals of satellite remote sensing : an environmental approach. Boca Raton: CRC Press. ISBN 978-0-429-01445-1. OCLC 1138019143. 
  4. "International Astronomical Union". 12 August 2018. https://www.iau.org/public/themes/satellite-constellations/. 
  5. "qua Earth-observing satellite mission". http://aqua.nasa.gov/. 
  6. "The Aura Mission". http://aura.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html. 
  7. "'Nothing short of spectacular': ESA's Biomass satellite releases 1st views of Earth from orbit (photos)" (in en). 2025-06-23. https://www.space.com/astronomy/earth/nothing-short-of-spectacular-esas-biomass-satellite-releases-1st-views-of-earth-from-orbit-photos. 
  8. "CloudSat - Home". http://cloudsat.atmos.colostate.edu/. 
  9. "DSCOVR Space Weather Sentinel Reaches Finish Line." Spaceflight Now. Retrieved: 21 December 2016.
  10. "ESA's cloud, aerosol and radiation mission". 7 November 2011. http://www.esa.int/esaLP/ASESMYNW9SC_LPearthcare_0.html. 
  11. "Göktürk-2". 2012. https://www.tai.com.tr/en/project/gokturk-2. 
  12. "GPM Launch Information". NASA. Retrieved: 21 December 2016.
  13. "Precipitation Measurement Missions - An international partnership to understand precipitation and its impact on humankind.". http://gpm.gsfc.nasa.gov/. 
  14. "GRACE-FO Mission". NASA/JPL. https://gracefo.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/overview/. 
  15. Weitering, Hanneke (22 May 2018). "SpaceX Launches Twin NASA Probes to Track Earth's Water (and Satellites Hitch a Ride)". Space.com. https://www.space.com/40672-spacex-launches-grace-fo-iridium-satellites.html. 
  16. "GRACE Tellus: GRACE-FO". GRACE Tellus. https://grace.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/grace-fo/. 
  17. 17.0 17.1 "Home". http://smap.jpl.nasa.gov/. 
  18. Neumann, Tom. "NASA: ICESat-2". http://icesat.gsfc.nasa.gov/icesat2/index.php. 
  19. "Satellite LAGEOS-1". 4 December 2009. http://ilrs.gsfc.nasa.gov/satellite_missions/list_of_satellites/lag1_general.html. 
  20. "Landsat Science". http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/. 
  21. "PROBA-V: The Small Satellite for Vegetation Monitoring". https://proba-v.vgt.vito.be/en/home. 
  22. "Sentinel 6 Launch Lights Up Central Coast Skies; Mission Will Measure Rising Sea Levels". 21 November 2020. https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/11/21/sentinel-6-launch-lights-up-central-coast-skies-mission-will-measure-rising-sea-levels/. 
  23. "NASA Soil Moisture Radar Ends Operations, Mission Science Continues." NASA. Retrieved: 21 December 2016.
  24. "Welcome to the Home Page of the SOlar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE)". http://lasp.colorado.edu/sorce/index.htm. 
  25. "ACRIMSAT — NASA Science". http://nasascience.nasa.gov/missions/acrimsat/. 
  26. "Sun sets for a NASA solar monitoring spacecraft." Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved: 9 August 2015.
  27. "EO-1 Home - Earth Observing Mission 1". http://eo1.gsfc.nasa.gov/. 
  28. "Pioneering Earth Observation Satellite Retired by NASA". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved: 3 April 2017.
  29. "Glory". http://glory.gsfc.nasa.gov/. 
  30. Amos, Jonathan (4 March 2011). "Nasa Glory mission ends in failure". https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-12551861. 
  31. "GOES POES Program ::". http://goespoes.gsfc.nasa.gov/. 
  32. "Home". http://grace.jpl.nasa.gov/. 
  33. "Decay Data: GRACE-1". Space-Track. 10 March 2018. https://www.space-track.org/basicspacedata/query/class/tip/NORAD_CAT_ID/27391/orderby/ID%20DESC/format/html/. 
  34. Neumann, Tom. "NASA: ICESat & ICESat-2". http://icesat.gsfc.nasa.gov/. 
  35. "OSTM: Home Page". http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/. 
  36. "SeaWiFS Project - Spacecraft and Sensor Overview". http://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/SeaWiFS/SEASTAR/SPACECRAFT.html. 
  37. "CLARREO". http://clarreo.larc.nasa.gov/. 
  38. "QuikSCAT". http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/quikscat/index.cfm. 
  39. "Aquarius end of mission announcement". Gary Lagerloef and Sandra Torrusio. http://aquarius.umaine.edu/cgi/status_more.htm?id=116. 
  40. "Terra: the EOS Flagship". http://terra.nasa.gov/. 
  41. Fussen, Didier; Dekemper, Emmanuel; Errera, Quentin; Franssens, Ghislain; Mateshvili, Nina; Pieroux, Didier; Vanhellemont, Filip (2016-08-03). "The ALTIUS mission" (in English). Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions: 1–40. doi:10.5194/amt-2016-213. https://amt.copernicus.org/preprints/amt-2016-213/. 
  42. "Satellite Constellations from". http://www.sstl.co.uk/Divisions/Earth-Observation-Science/EO-Constellations. 
  43. "「GRUS」打ち上げ・初期動作確認のお知らせ | Axelspace" (in ja). https://www.axelspace.com/ja/news/press_20181227/. 
  44. 44.0 44.1 "Axelspace – Space Technology". https://www.axelspace.com/. 
  45. "PlanetScope". 25 August 2020. https://docs.sentinel-hub.com/api/latest/data/planet-scope/. 
  46. "SuperView-1: Satellite Imagery, Overview, And Characteristics". 1 January 2019. https://eos.com/find-satellite/superview-1/. 
  47. "TripleSat Satellite Sensor". https://www.satimagingcorp.com/satellite-sensors/triplesat-satellite/. 
  48. "DMC 3 (Triplesat) / SSTL-S1 1, 2, 3, 4 / Beijing 2-1, ..., 2-4". 2 February 2018. https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/uk-dmc-3.htm. 
  49. "VIVID-i". 29 May 2020. https://earthi.space/vivid-i/. 
  50. "Earth-i launches first-of-a-kind satellite". https://room.eu.com/news/earth-i-launches-first-of-a-kind-satellite. 
  51. "RapidEye Constellation to be Retired in 2020". 16 January 2020. https://www.planet.com/pulse/rapideye-constellation-to-be-retired-in-2020/. 
  52. "Airbus expands its Earth observation constellation with Pléiades Neo Next | Airbus". 26 April 2024. https://www.airbus.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-04-airbus-expands-its-earth-observation-constellation-with-pleiades. 

Further reading




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