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Aqua

Aqua is a NASA Earth Science satellite mission studying Earth’s water cycle, including evaporation, atmospheric water vapor, clouds, precipitation, soil moisture, sea ice, land ice and snow cover.

Aqua
NASA · NASA identifies PIA18156 as an Aqua spacecraft artist concept and credits NASA. NASA content generally is not subject to copyright in the United States and may be used for factual or informational purposes under NASA Images and Media Usage Guidelines with NASA attribution and no implied endorsement; NASA insignia, logotypes, protected marks, and any separately identified third-party content remain excluded. · Source
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Identity

Aliases
AquaEOS PM-1Earth Observing System PM-1
Name
Aqua
Status
active

Details

Astronauts
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Description
Aqua is a NASA Earth Science satellite mission studying Earth’s water cycle, including evaporation, atmospheric water vapor, clouds, precipitation, soil moisture, sea ice, land ice and snow cover.
Destination
Near-polar, sun-synchronous Earth orbit at approximately 705 km altitude and 98.2° inclination for global measurements of Earth’s water cycle, including atmospheric water vapor, clouds, precipitation, soil moisture, snow, and ice
Launch Site
Outcome
Launched May 4, 2002, Aqua has collected long-term observations of Earth’s water cycle and related climate variables including aerosols, vegetation, ocean biology and temperatures.
Programs
Start Date
2002-05-04
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Creation Time
August 14, 2026 at 19:16:27 UTC
Updated Time
August 22, 2026 at 13:13:44 UTC

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