List of earth observation satellites

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of Earth observation satellites . It only shows a small selection of the satellites that were actually launched.

Chronological overview (incomplete)

Contents: 1960 · 1970 · 1980 · 1990 · 2000 · 2010s · 2020s
Start date mission image Organization (country) comment
1960s
0Apr 1, 1960 TIROS Tiros1 (UNITED STATES) first weather satellite , (another 9 satellites until 1965)
Aug 28, 1964 Nimbus 1 Nimbus 1 NASA (USA) (6 more satellites until 1978)
Aug 28, 1964 Cosmos 44 Soviet Union Forerunner of the Meteor series. Another 9 satellites of the pre-series up to 1968)
0Feb 3, 1966 ESSA ESSA (USA) (another 12 satellites by 2004)
0Feb. 1, 1969 meteor Soviet Union further satellites to the present
1970s
0Apr 8, 1970 Nimbus 4 Nimbus 4 NASA (USA) Weather satellite (research)
July 23, 1972 Landsat 1 Landsat 1 NASA (USA) first exploration satellite for mapping
Dec 11, 1972 Nimbus 5 Nimbus 5 NASA (USA) Weather satellite (research)
Jan. 22, 1975 Landsat 2 Landsat 2 NASA (USA)
0Apr 9, 1975 GEOS 3 GEOS-3 NASA (USA) (Geodynamics Experimental Ocean Satellite)
June 12, 1975 Nimbus 6 Nimbus 6 NASA (USA) Weather satellite (research)
Oct 16, 1975 GOES-1 GOES-1 NOAA (USA) geostationary weather satellite (operational)
  1976 Cosmos 1076 Soviet Union
June 16, 1977 GOES-2 GOES-2 NOAA (USA) geostationary weather satellite (operational)
Nov 23, 1977 Meteosat-1 Meteosat-1 EUMETSAT
05th Mar 1978 Landsat 3 Landsat 3 NASA (USA)
Apr. 26, 1978 Explorer 58 NASA (USA) (Applications Explorer Mission-1 / HCMM: Heat Capacity Mapping Mission)
June 16, 1978 GOES-3 GOES-3 NOAA (USA) geostationary weather satellite (operational)
June 27, 1978 Seasat Seasat NASA (USA)
Oct. 24, 1978 Nimbus 7 Nimbus 7 NASA (USA) first satellite for global environmental monitoring
Feb. 18, 1979 Explorer 60 NASA (USA) ( Applications Explorer Mission-2 (AEM-2) , SAGE)
1980s
  1980 Cosmos 1119 Soviet Union (Okean-E)
June 19, 1981 Meteosat-2 Meteosat EUMETSAT (Meteorological Satellite)
Aug 24, 1981 NOAA-7 NOAA-7 NOAA (USA)
July 16, 1982 Landsat-4 Landsat 4 NASA (USA)
28 Mar 1983 NOAA-8 NOAA (USA)
01st Mar 1984 Landsat 5 Landsat 5 NASA (USA)
Dec 12, 1984 NOAA-9 NOAA (USA)
March 12 1985 Geosat Geosat US Navy (USA) (Geodetic Satellite)
Oct 24, 1985 METEOR 3-01 Soviet Union
Feb. 22, 1986 SPOT 1 CNES (France) (Système Probatoire d'Observation de la Terre)
17 Sep 1986 NOAA-10 NOAA (USA)
Feb 16, 1987 MOS 1a NASDA (Japan) (Marine Observation Satellite, also: Momo 1a)
17th Mar 1988 IRS 1A ISRO (India) (Indian Remote Sensing Satellite)
Apr 20, 1988 Resurs -O1 Soviet Union
05th July 1988 OKEAN 1 Soviet Union
July 26, 1988 METEOR 3-02 Soviet Union
22 Sep 1988 NOAA-11 NOAA (USA)
06th Mar 1989 Meteosat-4 Meteosat EUMETSAT
Oct. 24, 1989 METEOR 3-03 Soviet Union
1990s
Jan. 22, 1990 SPOT 2 CNES (France) (Système Probatoire d'Observation de la Terre)
0Feb 7, 1990 MOS 1b NASDA (Japan) (Marine Observation Satellite, also: Momo 1b)
02nd Mar 1991 Meteosat-5 Meteosat EUMETSAT (Meteorological Satellite)
17th July 1991 ERS-1 ERS-1 ESA (European Remote Sensing Satellite)
Aug 29, 1991 IRS 1B ISRO (India) (Indian Remote Sensing Satellite)
Sep 15 1991 UARS UARS NASA (USA) (Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite)
Feb 11, 1992 JERS-1 NASDA (Japan) (Japanese Earth Resources Satellite, also: Fuyo)
Aug 10, 1992 TOPEX / Poseidon Topex-Poseidon NASA (USA) / CNES (France)
26 Sep 1993 SPOT 3 CNES (France) (Système Probatoire d'Observation de la Terre)
Nov 20, 1993 Meteosat-6 Meteosat EUMETSAT (Meteorological Satellite)
Jan 25, 1994 Meteor 3-06 Russia
Oct 15, 1994 IRS P2 ISRO (India) (Indian Remote Sensing Satellite)
0Apr 3, 1995 Orbview 1 / MicroLab-1 Orbimage (USA) first privately developed and operated earth observation satellite. (Optical Transient Detector OTD)
Apr 21, 1995 ERS-2 ERS-2 ESA (European Remote Sensing Satellite)
Aug 31, 1995 Yourself-1 NSAU (Ukraine)
0Nov 4, 1995 RADARSAT-1 Radarsat-1 CSA (Canada)
Dec 28, 1995 IRS 1C ISRO (India) (Indian Remote Sensing Satellite)
21 Mar 1996 IRS P3 ISRO (India) (Indian Remote Sensing Satellite)
Aug 17, 1996 ADEOS-I NASDA (Japan) (also: Midori)
0Aug 1, 1997 Orbview-2 Orbimage (USA) also: Seastar, with SeaWiFS (Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor)
03rd Sep 1997 Meteosat-7 Meteosat EUMETSAT (Meteorological Satellite)
29 Sep 1997 IRS 1D ISRO (India) (Indian Remote Sensing Satellite)
Nov 27, 1997 TRMM TRMM NASA (USA) / NASDA (Japan) (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission)
Dec 24, 1997 EarlyBird
Feb 10, 1998 Geosat Follow-On US NAVY (USA)
24 Mar 1998 SPOT 4 CNES (France) (Système Probatoire d'Observation de la Terre)
Apr 15, 1999 Landsat 7 Landsat 7 NASA (USA)
May 26, 1999 IRS P4 ISRO (India) (Indian Remote Sensing Satellite, also: Oceansat 1)
June 19, 1999 QuikSCAT QuikSCAT NASA (USA) (Quick Scatterometer)
July 17, 1999 Okean O Russia
Sep 24 1999 IKONOS GeoEye Inc. (USA)
Oct 14, 1999 CBERS-1 CBERS China / Brazil (China-Brazil Earth-Resources Satellite)
Dec 18, 1999 Terra Terra NASA (USA)
Dec 21, 1999 KOMPSat 1 South Korea (Korea Multi-Purpose Satellite, also: Arirang-2)
2000s
21 Sep 2000 NOAA-16 NOAA (USA)
0Dec 6, 2000 EROS-A1 EROS ImageSat International (Israel / USA) (Earth Resources Observation Systems)
Oct 18, 2001 QuickBird -2 DigitalGlobe (USA)
Oct 22, 2001 Proba-1 ESA (Project for On-Board Autonomy)
0Dec 7, 2001 Jason -1 Jason-1 NASA (USA) / CNES (France)
Dec 10, 2001 METEOR 3M / Sage III Russia / NASA (USA) (Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment)
01st Mar 2002 Envisat ESA
0May 4, 2002 Aqua Aqua NASA (USA)
0May 4, 2002 SPOT 5 Spot CNES (France) (Système Probatoire d'Observation de la Terre)
May 15, 2002 Hai Yuang China
June 24, 2002 NOAA-17 NOAA-M NOAA (USA)
Aug 28, 2002 Meteosat-8 (MSG-1) EUMETSAT (Meteosat Second Generation)
Sep 12 2002 KALPANA-1 ISRO (India) (MetSat-1, Meteorological Satellite)
Dec 12, 2002 ADEOS-II NASDA (Japan) (ADvanced Earth Observing Satellite, also: Midori II)
Jan. 12, 2003 ICESat IceSat NASA (USA) (Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite)
 June 2003 Orbview 3 Orbimage
Aug 13, 2003 SciSat-1 / ACE CSA (Canada) (Science Satellite / Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment)
Oct 17, 2003 IRS P6 ISRO (India) (Indian Remote Sensing Satellite, also: Resourcesat 1)
Oct 21, 2003 CBERS-2 CBERS China / Brazil (China-Brazil Earth-Resources Satellite)
July 15, 2004 aura aura NASA (USA)
Dec 18, 2004 PARASOL CNES (France)
Dec 24, 2004 Yourself-1M NSAU (Ukraine) (False start)
Feb 26, 2005 MTSAT-1R Japan (Multi-Functional Transport Satellite, also: Himawari 6)
0May 5, 2005 IRS P5 ISRO (India) (Indian Remote Sensing Satellite, also: Cartosat-1)
Aug 26, 2005 Monitor-E Khrunichev / Roscosmos (Russia)
0Oct 8, 2005 CryoSat ESA (False start)
Oct 27, 2005 TopSat
Dec 21, 2005 Meteosat-9 (MSG-2) EUMETSAT (Meteosat Second Generation)
Jan. 24, 2006 ALOS JAXA (Japan) (Advanced Land Observing Satellite, also: Daichi)
Feb. 18, 2006 MTSAT-2 Japan (also: Himawari?)
Apr 25, 2006 EROS-B EROS ImageSat International (Israel / USA) (Earth Resources Observation Systems)
Apr 27, 2006 YaoGan WeiXing-1 China (also: Remote Sensing Satellite 1, Jian Bing-5 (JB-5))
Apr 28, 2006 CALIPSO Calipso NASA (USA / CNES (France) (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations)
Apr 28, 2006 CloudSat CloudSat NASA (USA)
May 24, 2006 GOES-N GOES-N NOAA (USA) (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite)
July 26, 2006 BelKA Belarus ( False start) (for example: Belaruski Kazmitschnui Aparat - Belarusian space apparatus)
July 28, 2006 KOMPSat 2 South Korea (Korea Multi-Purpose Satellite, also: Arirang-2)
0Aug 5, 2006 Resurs-DK1 Russia
Oct 19, 2006 MetOp-A MetOp EUMETSAT / ESA (Meteorological Operational satellite)
0Dec 8, 2006 Feng Yun-2D China
Jan. 10, 2007 Cartosat-2 ISRO (India) (Indian Remote Sensing Satellite IRS-2A)
Apr 11, 2007 Haiyang 1-B China
Apr 25, 2007 AIM AIM NASA (USA) (Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere)
May 25, 2007 Yaogan-2 China
0June 7, 2007 COSMO-SkyMed-1 Italy (Constellation of small Satellites for Mediterranean basin Observation)
June 15, 2007 TerraSAR DLR / EADS Astrium (Germany)
Sep 18 2007 WorldView-1 Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation (USA)
19 Sep 2007 CBERS-2B CBERS China / Brazil (China-Brazil Earth-Resources Satellite)
Nov 12, 2007 Yaogan-3 China (also: Jian Bing-5 2, JB-5 2)
0Dec 9, 2007 COSMO-SkyMed-2 Italy (Constellation of small Satellites for Mediterranean basin Observation)
Dec 14, 2007 RADARSAT-2 CSA (Canada)
Apr 28, 2008 Cartosat-2A ISRO (India)
May 27, 2008 Feng Yun 3A China
June 20, 2008 OSTM OSTM NASA / NOAA (USA) / CNES (France) / EUMETSAT (Ocean Surface Topography Mission, also: Jason – 2)
Aug 29, 2008 RapidEye RapidEye RapidEye AG (Germany)
06 Sep 2008 GeoEye 1 GeoEye (USA)
06 Sep 2008 Huanjing-1 China
0Oct 1, 2008 THEOS Thailand (Thailand Earth Observation System)
Oct 25, 2008 COSMO-SkyMed-3 Italy (Constellation of small Satellites for Mediterranean basin Observation)
0Dec 1, 2008 YaoGan WeiXing-4 China
Jan. 21, 2009 GOSAT JAXA (Japan) (Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite, also: IBUKI)
Feb 24, 2009 OCO NASA (USA) (Orbiting Carbon Observatory) (failure)
June 27, 2009 GOES-O GOES-O NOAA (USA) (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite)
0Sep 7 2009 Meteor-M 1 Russia
23 Sep 2009 OceanSat-2 ISRO (India)
0Oct 8, 2009 WorldView-2 Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation (USA)
0Nov 2, 2009 SMOS ESA (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity)
0Nov 2, 2009 Proba-2 ESA (Project for On-Board Autonomy)
2010s
04th Mar 2010 GOES-P GOES-P NOAA (USA) (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite)
0Apr 8, 2010 CryoSat-2 ESA
June 21, 2010 TanDEM-X DLR / EADS Astrium (Germany)
Jan. 20, 2011 Elektro-L 1 Russia (also: GOMS)
04th Mar 2011 Glory NASA (USA) (failed)
June 10, 2011 SAC-D NASA (USA) / CONAE (Argentina)
17 Aug 2011 Yourself-2 NSAU (Ukraine)
Oct 12, 2011 Megha-Tropiques CNES (France) / ISRO (India)
Oct 28, 2011 Suomi NPP NASA (USA) (National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project)
Dec 17, 2011 Pléiades-1A CNES / Astrium (France) (The very-high-resolution constellation)
17th May 2012 GCOM-W JAXA (Japan) (Global Change Observation Mission-Water)
0Sep 9 2012 SPOT 6 Astrium (The high-resolution constellation)
0Dec 2, 2012 Pléiades-1B CNES / Astrium (France) (The very-high-resolution constellation)
11th Mar 2013 Landsat 8 (LDCM) NASA (USA) (Landsat Data Continuity Mission)
July 25, 2013 INSAT-3D ISRO (India) (Indian geostationary multi-function satellite)
0Dec 9, 2013 CBERS-3 CBERS China / Brazil (China-Brazil Earth-Resources Satellite; could not reach orbit)
Feb. 27, 2014 GPM NASA (USA) / JAXA (Japan) (Global Precipitation Measurement)
0Apr 3, 2014 Sentinel-1A EU / ESA
0Oct 7, 2014 Himawari 8 Japan Weather satellite
07th Dec 2014 CBERS-4 CBERS China / Brazil (China-Brazil Earth-Resources Satellite)
Jan. 31, 2015 SMAP NASA (USA) (Soil Moisture Active Passive)
Nov 19, 2016 GOES 16 (GOES-R) NOAA (USA) (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite)
07th Mar 2017 Sentinel-2 EU / ESA
April 25, 2018 Sentinel-3 EU / ESA
22 Aug 2018 ADM-Aeolus ESA (Atmospheric Dynamics Mission)
Sep 15 2018 ICESat-2 NASA (USA) (Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite)
Oct 29, 2018 CFOSat
June 12, 2019 Radarsat Constellation Canada
22 Mar 2019 PRISM ASI (Italy) PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa
Dec 20, 2019 CBERS-4A CBERS China / Brazil (China-Brazil Earth-Resources Satellite)
2020s
around 2020 EnMAP GFZ / DLR (Germany) (Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program)
approx. 2021 MTG-I EUMETSAT (Meteosat Third Generation Imaging)
approx. 2022Template: future / in 2 years EarthCARE ESA / JAXA 7. Earth Explorer Mission
approx. 2022Template: future / in 2 years Biomass ESA 8. Earth Explorer Mission
April 2022Template: future / in 2 years SWOT SWOT NASA (USA) / CNES (France) First global survey of the Earth's surface water

Sorting by remote sensing instrument

Non-imaging active systems

Microwave altimeter (altimeter): remote sensing of the sea surface

  • April 9, 1975 - GEOS 3 (first satellite altimeter)
  • June 28, 1978 - Seasat (until October 10, 1978)
  • Mar. 12, 1985 - Geosat
  • July 17, 1991 - ERS-1 (until March 10, 2000), (Altimeter = main measuring device)
  • August 10, 1992 - TOPEX / Poseidon (until January 18, 2006), (Altimeter = main measuring device)
  • April 21, 1995 - ERS-2 (Altimeter = main measuring device)
  • February 10, 1998 - GFO (Geosat Follow-On) successor to Geosat
  • December 7, 2001 - Jason-1 (successor to TOPEX / Poseidon) , (Altimeter = main measuring device)
  • March 1, 2002 - Envisat (successor to ERS)
  • Jun 20, 2008 - Jason -2
  • April 8, 2010 - CryoSat-2

Laser altimeter

  • January 12, 2003 - ICESat , Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS)

LIDAR: exploration of clouds and aerosols

  • April 28, 2006 - CALIPSO , Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP)
  • 2008 - ADM-Aeolus , Atmospheric Laser Doppler Lidar Instrument (ALADIN)
  • 2012 - EarthCARE , Backscatter Lidar (ATLID)

Scatterometer: Research into air movements over the sea

  • Jun. 27, 1978 - Seasat
  • July 17, 1991 - ERS-1 , Active Microwave Instrument (AMI)
  • April 21, 1995 - ERS-2 , Active Microwave Instrument (AMI)
  • Sept. 15, 1996 - ADEOS-I , NSCAT - NASA scatterometer
  • June 19, 1999 - QuikSCAT , (SeaWinds)
  • December 12, 2002 - ADEOS-II , (SeaWinds)
  • October 19, 2006 - MetOp-A , Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT)

Active imaging systems

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)

  • June 28, 1978 - Seasat (until October 10, 1978)
  • July 25, 1987 - Kosmos 1870 (Almaz-T2 / Resurs-R)
  • March 31, 1991 - Almaz 1 (Almaz-T3 / Resurs-R)
  • July 17, 1991 - ERS-1 (until March 10, 2000), Active Microwave Instrument (AMI)
  • February 11, 1992 - JERS-1 (until 1998)
  • April 21, 1995 - ERS-2 , Active Microwave Instrument (AMI)
  • Nov. 4, 1995 - RADARSAT-1
  • March 1, 2002 - Envisat , Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR)
  • June 15, 2007 - TerraSAR

Imaging passive systems

Hyperspectral scanners (spectrometers with approx. 15 to 200 spectral bands)

  • December 18, 1999 - Terra , MODIS (= Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer), 36 spectral bands
  • November 21, 2000 - EO-1 , Hyperion, 220 spectral bands
  • October 22, 2001 - Proba-1 , CHRIS, 60 spectral bands
  • March 1, 2002 - Envisat , MERIS (MEdium Resolution Imaging Specrometer), 15 spectral bands
  • May 4, 2002 - Aqua , MODIS (= Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer), 36 spectral bands
  • 2012 - Prism, 235 spectral bands
  • 2014 - EnMAP , 200 spectral bands
  • 2015 - HyspIRI, 210 spectral bands

Multispectral line scanner for measuring ocean color (global)

  • Oct. 24, 1978 - Nimbus-7 , Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) to 1986
  • March 21, 1996 - IRS P3 , Modular Optical Scanner (MOS) until 2004
  • August 17, 1996 - ADEOS-I (Midori), Ocean Color and Temperature Scanner (OCTS) until 1997
  • August 1, 1997 - Orbview-2 (Seastar) , Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS)
  • March 1, 2002 - Envisat , MEdium Resolution Imaging Specrometer (MERIS)
  • May 4, 2002 - Aqua, Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)
  • approx. 2012 - Sentinel-3 , Ocean and Land Color Instrument (OLCI)
  • approx. 2013 - NPOESS , Visible / Infrared Imager / Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)

Examples by research topic

NASA satellites for researching the earth's water and energy balance

Investigation of the earth's radiation budget

  • Oct. 24, 1978 - Nimbus 7 , Earth Radiation Budget Instrument (ERB)
  • October 5, 1984 - Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) , Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE)
  • December 12, 1984 - NOAA-9 , Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE)
  • September 17, 1986 - NOAA-10 , Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE)
  • January 25, 1994 - Meteor 3-06, ScaRaB
  • November 27, 1997 - TRMM , Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES)
  • December 18, 1999 - Terra , Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES)
  • May 4, 2002 - Aqua, Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES)
  • August 28, 2002 - Meteosat-8 (MSG-1) , Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB)
  • December 21, 2005 - Meteosat-9 (MSG-2) , Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB)

Investigation of the ozone layer

  • Nov. 20, 1975 - Explorer 55 (Atmosphere Explorer-E), Backscatter UV Spectrometer
  • Oct. 24, 1978 - Nimbus 7 , Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) / Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet instrument (SBUV)
  • Oct. 6, 1981 - SME ( Solar Mesosphere Explorer )
  • Mar. 28, 1983 - Advanced Tiros N / NOAA 8, Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Radiometer (SBUV) , (also on subsequent NOAA satellites)
  • September 12, 1991 - Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS)
  • August 15, 1991 - METEOR 3-05 , Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS)
  • April 21, 1995 - ERS-2 , Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME)
  • July 2, 1996 - Earth Probe , Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS)
  • August 17, 1996 - ADEOS I (Midori), Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS)
  • March 1, 2002 - Envisat , Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars (GOMOS)
  • August 13, 2003 - SCISAT
  • July 15, 2004 - Aura , Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI)
  • October 19, 2006 - MetOp-A , Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2)

Investigation of the aerosol density of the atmosphere

  • Oct. 13, 1978 - TIROS-N, Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR)
  • October 24, 1978 - Nimbus 7 , Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) (other satellites with TOMS see above)
  • June 23, 1981 - NOAA-7 , Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR-2) (another 10 satellites with AVHRR by 2002)
  • July 17, 1991 - ERS-1 , Along Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR)
  • April 21, 1995 - ERS-2 , Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR)
  • August 17, 1996 - ADEOS I (Midori), POLDER (first satellite sensor especially for measurements of aerosols) / OCTS
  • Dec 18, 1999 - Terra , CERES, MISR, MODIS
  • December 12, 2002 - ADEOS-II (Midori-II), Global Imager (GLI)

Chemical composition of the upper atmosphere

Other parameters

See also

Web links

Individual evidence