Seasat was the first Earth-orbiting satellite designed for remote sensing of the Earth's oceans and had onboard the first spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR). The mission was designed to demonstrate the feasibility of global satellite monitoring of oceanographic phenomena and to help determine the requirements for an operational ocean remote sensing satellite system. Specific objectives were to collect data on sea-surface winds, sea-surface temperatures, wave heights, internal waves, atmospheric water, sea ice features and ocean topography. Seasat was managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and was launched on 28 June 1978 into a nearly circular 800 km orbit with an inclination of 108°. Seasat operated for 105 days until 10 October 1978, when a massive short circuit in the satellite's electrical system ended the mission. Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... A satellite is an object that orbits another object (known as its primary). ... The surface of Venus, as imaged by the Magellan probe using SAR Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is a form of radar in which sophisticated post-processing of radar data is used to produce a very narrow effective beam. ... The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which was established in 1958, is the agency responsible for the public space program of the United States of America. ... The Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near Pasadena, California builds and operates unmanned spacecraft for NASA. JPL-run projects include the Galileo Jupiter mission and the Mars rovers, including the 1997 Mars Pathfinder and the twin 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers. ... 1978 was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ...
Seasat carried five major instruments designed to return the maximum information from ocean surfaces:
Radar altimeter to measure spacecraft height above the ocean surface
Microwave scatterometer to measure wind speed and direction
Visible and infrared radiometer to identify cloud, land and water features
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) L-band, HH polarization, fixed look angle to monitor the global surface wave field and polar sea ice conditions
Many later remote sensing missions owe their legacy to Seasat. These include imaging radars flown on NASA's Space Shuttle as well as such Earth-orbiting satellites such as TOPEX/Poseidon, the NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT), QuikScat, and Jason 1. An altimeter is an active instrument used to measure the altitude of an object above a fixed level. ... Visualisation of the SST of the ocean just before Hurricane Bob (August 14, 1991) Sea surface temperature (SST) is the water temperature at 1 meter below the sea surface. ... The Space Shuttle Columbia seconds after engine ignition, 1981 (NASA). ... The TOPEX/Poseidon satellite altimeter is a science project to measure the ocean surface topography. ... This article contains material and/or images that originally came from a NASA website. ...
Seasat's tale began in the 1970s when a group of engineers and scientists at JPL began work on an experimental satellite to study Earth and its seas, using technologies being developed to study other planets.
"Seasat served to vault Earth science to where it is today, advancing the study of such diverse disciplines as land and sea surface topography, ice sheet and land movement, and sea surface winds," said Dr. Frank Carsey, JPL research scientist.
Seasat data was used to pioneer radar interferometry, which can pinpoint land surface changes such as those created by earthquakes, and to measure land surface topography.
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