MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109
TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 9, 1999
TERRA EARTH SCIENCE MISSION READY FOR LAUNCH DEC. 16
The launch of NASA's Earth-observing Terra satellite, bearing state-of-the-art instruments
to study interactions between the land, atmosphere, ocean and life on the planet, is set
for Thursday, Dec. 16 from Space Launch Complex 3 East at Vandenberg Air Force Base,
Calif. aboard a Lockheed Martin Atlas IIAS rocket. The launch window is 25 minutes in
duration extending from 10:33 to 10:58 a.m. PST (1:33 to 1:58 p.m. EST).
Terra, managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., is the NASA flagship
mission in a new series of spacecraft dedicated to the U.S. Global Change Research Program.
Terra carries five sophisticated sets of instruments with measurement and accuracy
capabilities never before flown. See http://eos-am.gsfc.nasa.gov
for details on the mission.
Terra takes a global approach to data collection that will enable scientists to study the
interaction among the four spheres of the Earth system -- the oceans, lands, atmosphere and
biosphere. Long-term weather and climate prediction requires the collection of better data over
longer periods to understand the links between these spheres.
Among the instruments are two managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.:
- The JPL-built Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR) will improve our understanding
of the Earth's ecology and climate by studying how changes in the amounts, types, and
distribution of clouds, airborne particulates, and surface covers can affect our climate. For
more information, go to http://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov .
- The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and reflection Radiometer (ASTER), a joint
U.S.-Japanese instrument, will produce detailed global, regional and local image maps of
land surface temperature, reflectance and elevation and other characteristics. ASTER is the
only high-spatial-resolution instrument on Terra, and the instrument's ability to serve as a
"zoom lens" for the other instruments will be particularly important for land studies,
detecting surface changes, and for calibrating instruments. See
http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov for more information.
JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.
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