SAC-D/Aquarius

Spacecraft nº:

Argentinian spacecraft nº: 14

Launch data: Designation  37673 / 11024A Launch date  10 Jun 2011 - 14:20 UT Launch site  Va, SLC-2W Launch vehicle  Delta-7320-10C Mission  Government: Earth Observation (Ocean salinity), Climate Sun-Synchronous LEO Earth orbit: Perigee / Apogee  653 x 656 km Eccentricity  2.14E-04 Inclination  98 deg Period  97.82 min

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• Equipped with multiple scientific instruments from several countries including NASA's Aquarius sensor package.
• Argentina's 'Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas-D' satellite carries a suite of Earth observing instruments including NASA's Aquarius L-band radiometer/scatterometer which will make global maps of sea salinity.
• The Aquarius instrument is managed by JPL, although later operations will be done by NASA Goddard; the rest of the spacecraft is operated by CONAE, the Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales, at the Centro Espacial Tabanera in Falda del Carmen, Cordoba province. Among its other instruments SAC-D carries a Ka-band microwave radiometer, a New Infrared Scanner Technology experiment to measure sea surface temperatures, the High Sensitivity Camera to study light sources at night, and the Italian ROSA instrument which measures deflection of GPS satellite signals by the atmosphere to measure temperature and humidity.

Mission details:

• The SAC-D/Aquarius satellite was launched from Vandenberg on Jun 10 by a Delta II rocket. It reached a 157 x 669 km transfer orbit 11 minutes after launch; a second burn circularized the orbit 40 minutes later at 653 x 655 km x 98.0 deg.

External links:

• NASA: Satellite description