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Gearing up for third Sentinel-2 satellite
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By NASA
NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team During the morning of March 20, 2015, a total solar eclipse was visible from parts of Europe, and a partial solar eclipse from northern Africa and northern Asia. NASA’s Terra satellite passed over the Arctic Ocean on March 20 at 10:45 UTC (6:45 a.m. EDT) and captured the eclipse’s shadow over the clouds in the Arctic Ocean.
Terra launched 25 years ago on Dec. 18, 1999. Approximately the size of a small school bus, the Terra satellite carries five instruments that take coincident measurements of the Earth system: Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), Clouds and Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES), Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR), Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT), and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS).
On Nov. 28, 2024, one of Terra’s power-transmitting shunt units failed. A response team reviewed Terra’s status and discussed potential impacts and options. Consequently, the team placed ASTER into Safe Mode. As a result, ASTER data are not currently being collected. All other instruments continue uninterrupted.
Image Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team
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By NASA
As 1969, an historic year that saw not just one but two successful human lunar landings, drew to a close, NASA continued preparations for its planned third Moon landing mission, Apollo 13, then scheduled for launch on March 12, 1970. The Apollo 13 prime crew of Commander James A. Lovell, Command Module Pilot (CMP) Thomas K. “Ken” Mattingly, and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) Fred W. Haise, and their backups John W. Young, John L. “Jack” Swigert, and Charles M. Duke, continued intensive training for the mission. NASA announced the selection of the Fra Mauro region of the Moon as the prime landing site for Apollo 13, favored by geologists because it forms an extensive geologic unit around Mare Imbrium, the largest lava plain on the Moon. The Apollo 13 Saturn V rolled out to its launch pad.
Apollo 11
The Apollo 11 astronauts meet Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, left, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Image courtesy of The Canadian Press. The Apollo 11 astronauts meet with Québec premier ministre Jean Lesage in Montréal. Image courtesy of Archives de la Ville de Montreal. Apollo 11 astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrinhad returned from their Giantstep Presidential goodwill tour on Nov. 5, 1969. Due to scheduling conflicts, a visit to Canada could not be included in the same time frame as the rest of the tour, so the astronauts made a special trip to Ottawa and Montreal on Dec. 2 and 3, meeting with local officials.
Apollo 11 astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, left, and comedian Bob Hope perform for the troops in Korat, Thailand. Armstrong, in blue flight suit, shakes hands with servicemen in Long Binh, South Vietnam. Armstrong, left, and Hope entertain the crowd in Cu Chi, South Vietnam. Armstrong joined famed comedian Bob Hope’s USO Christmas tour in December 1969. He participated in several shows at venues in South Vietnam, Thailand, and Guam, kidding around with Hope and answering questions from the assembled service members. He received standing ovations and spent much time shaking hands with the troops. The USO troupe also visited the hospital ship U.S.S. Sanctuary (AH-17) stationed in the South China Sea.
Apollo 12
For the first time in nearly four weeks, on Dec. 10, Apollo 12 astronauts Charles “Pete” Conrad, Richard F. Gordon, and Alan L. Bean stepped out into sunshine and breathed unfiltered air. Since their launch on Nov. 14, 1969, the trio had traveled inside their spacecraft for 10 days on their mission to the Moon and back, wore respirators during their recovery in the Pacific Ocean, stayed in the Mobile Quarantine Facility during the trip from the prime recovery ship U.S.S. Hornet back to Houston, and lived in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory (LRL) at the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), now NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Like the Apollo 11 crew before them, Conrad, Gordon, and Bean exhibited no symptoms of any infections with lunar microorganisms and managers declared them fit to be released from quarantine. MSC Director Robert L. Gilruth, other managers, and a crowd of well-wishers greeted Conrad, Gordon, and Bean.
Director of the Manned Spacecraft Center, now NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Robert R. Gilruth and others greet Apollo 12 astronaut Charles “Pete” Conrad as he emerges from his postflight quarantine. Director of the Manned Spacecraft Center, now NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Robert R. Gilruth and others greet Apollo 12 astronaut Richard F. Gordon as he emerges from his postflight quarantine. Director of the Manned Spacecraft Center, now NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Robert R. Gilruth and others greet Apollo 12 astronaut Alan L. Bean as he emerges from his postflight quarantine. Addressing the crowd gathered outside the LRL, Conrad commented that “the LRL was really quite pleasant,” but all three were glad to be breathing non man-made air! While the men went home to their families for a short rest, work inside the LRL continued. Scientists began examining the first of the 75 pounds of rocks returned by the astronauts as well as the camera and other hardware they removed from Surveyor 3 for effects of 31 months exposed to the harsh lunar environment. Preliminary analysis of the TV camera that failed early during their first spacewalk on the lunar surface indicated that the failure was due to partial burnout of the Videocon tube, likely caused by the crew accidentally pointing the camera toward the Sun. Other scientists busied themselves with analyzing the data returning from the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package (ALSEP) instruments Conrad and Bean deployed on the lunar surface. Mission planners examining the photographs taken from lunar orbit of the Fra Mauro area were confident that the next mission, Apollo 13, would be able to make a safe landing in that geologically interesting site, the first attempt to land in the lunar highlands.
After taking their first steps in the sunshine, Apollo 12 astronauts Charles “Pete” Conrad, left, Alan L. Bean, and Richard F. Gordon address a large group of well-wishers outside the Lunar Receiving Laboratory. Bean, left, Gordon, and Conrad during their postflight press conference. Two days after leaving the LRL, Conrad, Gordon, and Bean held their postflight press conference in the MSC auditorium. Addressing the assembled reporters, the astronauts first introduced their wives as their “number one support team,” then provided a film and photo summary of their mission, and answered numerous questions. Among other things, the astronauts praised the spacesuits they wore during the Moon walks, indicating they worked very well and, looking ahead, saw no impediments to longer excursions on future missions. Their only concern centered around the ever-present lunar dust that clung to their suits, raising that as a potential issue for future lunar explorers.
Director of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida Kurt H. Debus, right, presents Apollo 12 astronauts Charles “Pete” Conrad, left, Richard F. Gordon, and Alan L. Bean with photos of their launch. White House of the Apollo 12 astronauts and their wives with President Richard M. Nixon, First Lady Pat Nixon, and their daughter Tricia Nixon. Conrad, Gordon, and Bean returned to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on Dec. 17, where their mission began more than a month earlier and nearly ended prematurely when lightning twice struck their Saturn V rocket. KSC Director Kurt H. Debus presented each astronaut with a framed photograph of their launch in front of 8,000 workers assembled in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). Of their nearly ill-fated liftoff Conrad expressed his signature confidence, “Had we to do it again, I would launch exactly under the same conditions.” Guenter Wendt and his pad closeout team had collected a piece of grounding rod from the umbilical tower, cut it into three short pieces, mounted them with the inscription “In fond memory of the electrifying launch of Apollo 12,” and presented them to the astronauts. Three days later, President Richard M. Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon welcomed Conrad, Gordon, and Bean and their wives Jane, Barbara, and Sue, respectively, to a dinner at the White House. After dinner, they watched a film about the Apollo 12 mission as well as the recently released motion picture Marooned about three astronauts stranded in space. President Nixon requested that the astronauts pay a visit to former President Lyndon B. Johnson, who for many years championed America’s space program, and brief him on their mission, which they did in January 1970.
The Alan Bean Day parade in Fort Worth. Apollo 12 astronaut Bean and his family deluged by shredded office paper during the parade in his honor in Fort Worth. Image credits: courtesy Fort Worth Star Telegram. On Dec. 22, the city of Fort Worth, Texas, honored native son Bean, with Conrad, Gordon, and their families joining him for the Alan Bean Day festivities. An estimated 150,000 people lined the streets of the city to welcome Bean and his crewmates, dumping a blizzard of ticker tape and shredded office paper on the astronauts and their families during the parade. City workers cleared an estimated 60 tons of paper from the streets after the event.
Apollo 13
The planned Apollo 13 landing site in the Fra Mauro region, in relation to the Apollo 11 and 12 landing sites. Workers place the Spacecraft Lunar Module Adapter over the Apollo 13 Lunar Module. On Dec. 10, 1969, NASA announced the selection of the Fra Mauro region of the Moon as the prime landing site for Apollo 13, located about 110 miles east of the Apollo 12 touchdown point. Geologists favored the Fra Mauro area for exploration because it forms an extensive geologic unit around Mare Imbrium, the largest lava plain on the Moon. Unlike the Apollo 11 and 12 sites located in the flat lunar maria, Fra Mauro rests in the relatively more rugged lunar highlands. The precision landing by the Apollo 12 crew and their extensive orbital photography of the Fra Mauro region gave NASA confidence to attempt a landing at Fra Mauro. Workers in KSC’s VAB had stacked the three stages of Apollo 13’s Saturn V in June and July 1969. On Dec. 10, they topped the rocket with the Apollo 13 spacecraft, comprising the Command and Service Modules (CSM) and the Lunar Module (LM) inside the Spacecraft LM Adapter. Five days later, the Saturn V exited the VAB and made the 3.5-mile journey out to Launch Pad 39A to begin a series of tests to prepare it for the launch of the planned 10-day lunar mission. During their 33.5 hours on the Moon’s surface, Lovell and Haise planned to conduct two four-hour spacewalks to set up the ALSEP, a suite of five investigations designed to collect data about the lunar environment after the astronauts’ departure, and to conduct geologic explorations of the landing site. Mattingly planned to remain in the CSM, conducting geologic observations from lunar orbit including photographing potential future landing sites.
Apollo 13 astronaut James A. Lovell trains on the deployment of the S-band antenna. Apollo 13 astronaut Fred W. Haise examines one of the lunar surface instruments. During the first of the two spacewalks, Apollo 13 Moon walkers Lovell and Haise planned to deploy the five ALSEP experiments, comprising:
Charged Particle Lunar Environment Experiment (CPLEE) – flying for the first time, this experiment sought to measure the particle energies of protons and electrons reaching the lunar surface from the Sun. Lunar Atmosphere Detector (LAD) – this experiment used a Cold Cathode Ion Gauge (CCIG) to measure the pressure of the tenuous lunar atmosphere. Lunar Heat Flow Experiment (LHE) – designed to measure the steady-state heat flow from the Moon’s interior. Passive Seismic Experiment (PSE) – similar to the device left on the Moon during Apollo 12, consisted of a sensitive seismometer to record Moon quakes and other seismic activity. Lunar Dust Detector (LDD) – measured the amount of dust deposited on the lunar surface. A Central Station provided command and communications to the ALSEP experiments, while a Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator using heat from the radioactive decay of a Plutonium-238 sample provided uninterrupted power. Additionally, the astronauts planned to deploy and retrieve the Solar Wind Collector experiment to collect particles of the solar wind, as did the Apollo 11 and 12 crews before them. Apollo 13 astronauts James A. Lovell and Fred W. Haise during the geology field trip to lava fields on the Big Island of Hawaii. Apollo 13 astronauts James A. Lovell and Fred W. Haise during the geology field trip to lava fields on the Big Island of Hawaii. Apollo 13 astronauts James A. Lovell and Fred W. Haise during the geology field trip to lava fields on the Big Island of Hawaii. Apollo 13 astronauts Lovell, Haise, Young, and Duke participated in a geology training field trip between Dec. 17 and 20 on the Big Island of Hawaii. Geologist Patrick D. Crosland of the National Park Service in Hawaii provided the astronauts with a tour of recent volcanic eruption sites in the Kilauea area, with the thought that the Fra Mauro formation might be of volcanic origin. During several traverses in the Kilauea Volcano area, NASA geologists John W. Dietrich, Uel S. Clanton, and Gary E. Lofgren and US Geological Survey geologists Gordon A. “Gordie” Swann, M.H. “Tim” Hait, and Leon T. “Lee” Silver accompanied the astronauts. The training sessions honed the astronauts’ geology skills and refined procedures for collecting rock samples and for documentary photography.
Apollo 14
The Apollo 14 Command and Service Modules shortly after arriving in the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building (MSOB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Apollo 14 Lunar Module ascent stage shortly after arriving in the MSOB. S69-62154 001 Preparations for the fourth Moon landing mission, Apollo 14, continued as well. At the time tentatively planned for launch in July 1970, mission planners considered the Littrow area on the eastern edge of the Mare Serenitatis, characterized by dark material possibly of volcanic origin, as a potential landing site. Apollo 14 astronauts Commander Alan B. Shepard, CMP Stuart A. Roosa, and LMP Edgar D. Mitchell and their backups Eugene A. Cernan, Ronald E. Evans, and Joe H. Engle had already begun training for their mission. At KSC’s Manned Spacecraft Operations Building (MSOB), the Apollo 14 CSM arrived from its manufacturer North American Rockwell in Downey, California, as did the two stages of the LM from the Grumman Aerospace and Engineering Company in Bethpage, New York, in November 1969. Engineers began tests of the spacecraft shortly after their arrival. The three stages of the Apollo 14 Saturn V were scheduled to arrive at KSC in January 1970.
To be continued …
News from around the world in December 1969:
December 2 – Boeing’s new 747 Jumbo Jet makes its first passenger flight, from Seattle to New York.
December 3 – George M. Low sworn in as NASA deputy administrator.
December 4 – A Boy Named Charlie Brown, the first feature film based on the Peanuts comic strip, is released to theaters for the first time.
December 7 – The animated Christmas special Frosty the Snowman, makes its television debut.
December 14 – The Jackson 5 make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
December 18 – The sixth James Bond film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, held its world premiere in London, with George Lazenby as Agent 007.
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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Data from the SWOT satellite was used to calculate average water levels for lakes and reservoirs in the Ohio River Basin from July 2023 to November 2024. Yellow indicates values greater than 1,600 feet (500 meters) above sea level; dark purple represents water levels less than 330 feet (100 meters). Data from the U.S.-European Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission gives researchers a detailed look at lakes and reservoirs in a U.S. watershed.
The Ohio River Basin stretches from Pennsylvania to Illinois and contains a system of reservoirs, lakes, and rivers that drains an area almost as large as France. Researchers with the SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography) mission, a collaboration between NASA and the French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales), now have a new tool for measuring water levels not only in this area, which is home to more than 25 million people, but in other watersheds around the world as well.
Since early 2023, SWOT has been measuring the height of nearly all water on Earth’s surface — including oceans, lakes, reservoirs, and rivers — covering nearly the entire globe at least once every 21 days. The SWOT satellite also measures the horizontal extent of water in freshwater bodies. Earlier this year, the mission started making validated data publicly available.
“Having these two perspectives — water extent and levels — at the same time, along with detailed, frequent coverage over large areas, is unprecedented,” said Jida Wang, a hydrologist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a member of the SWOT science team. “This is a groundbreaking, exciting aspect of SWOT.”
Researchers can use the mission’s data on water level and extent to calculate how the amount of water stored in a lake or reservoir changes over time. This, in turn, can give hydrologists a more precise picture of river discharge — how much water moves through a particular stretch of river.
The visualization above uses SWOT data from July 2023 to November 2024 to show the average water level above sea level in lakes and reservoirs in the Ohio River Basin, which drains into the Mississippi River. Yellow indicates values greater than 1,600 feet (500 meters), and dark purple represents water levels less than 330 feet (100 meters). Comparing how such levels change can help hydrologists measure water availability over time in a local area or across a watershed.
Complementing a Patchwork of Data
Historically, estimating freshwater availability for communities within a river basin has been challenging. Researchers gather information from gauges installed at certain lakes and reservoirs, from airborne surveys, and from other satellites that look at either water level or extent. But for ground-based and airborne instruments, the coverage can be limited in space and time. Hydrologists can piece together some of what they need from different satellites, but the data may or may not have been taken at the same time, or the researchers might still need to augment the information with measurements from ground-based sensors.
Even then, calculating freshwater availability can be complicated. Much of the work relies on computer models. “Traditional water models often don’t work very well in highly regulated basins like the Ohio because they have trouble representing the unpredictable behavior of dam operations,” said George Allen, a freshwater researcher at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg and a member of the SWOT science team.
Many river basins in the United States include dams and reservoirs managed by a patchwork of entities. While the people who manage a reservoir may know how their section of water behaves, planning for water availability down the entire length of a river can be a challenge. Since SWOT looks at both rivers and lakes, its data can help provide a more unified view.
“The data lets water managers really know what other people in these freshwater systems are doing,” said SWOT science team member Colin Gleason, a hydrologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
While SWOT researchers are excited about the possibilities that the data is opening up, there is still much to be done. The satellite’s high-resolution view of water levels and extent means there is a vast ocean of data that researchers must wade through, and it will take some time to process and analyze the measurements.
More About SWOT
The SWOT satellite was jointly developed by NASA and CNES, with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the UK Space Agency. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California, leads the U.S. component of the project. For the flight system payload, NASA provided the Ka-band radar interferometer (KaRIn) instrument, a GPS science receiver, a laser retroreflector, a two-beam microwave radiometer, and NASA instrument operations. The Doppler Orbitography and Radioposition Integrated by Satellite system, the dual frequency Poseidon altimeter (developed by Thales Alenia Space), the KaRIn radio-frequency subsystem (together with Thales Alenia Space and with support from the UK Space Agency), the satellite platform, and ground operations were provided by CNES. The KaRIn high-power transmitter assembly was provided by CSA.
To learn more about SWOT, visit:
https://swot.jpl.nasa.gov
News Media Contacts
Jane J. Lee / Andrew Wang
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-0307 / 626-379-6874
jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov / andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov
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Last Updated Dec 17, 2024 Related Terms
SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography) Jet Propulsion Laboratory Water on Earth Explore More
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By European Space Agency
Launched in May 2024, ESA’s EarthCARE satellite is nearing the end of its commissioning phase with the release of its first data on clouds and aerosols expected early next year. In the meantime, an international team of scientists has found an innovative way of applying artificial intelligence to other satellite data to yield 3D profiles of clouds.
This is particularly news for those eagerly awaiting data from EarthCARE in their quest to advance climate science.
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By European Space Agency
A pair of spacecraft were launched together today from India with the potential to change the nature of future space missions. ESA’s twin Proba-3 platforms will perform precise formation flying down to a single millimetre, as if they were one single giant spacecraft. To demonstrate their degree of control, the pair will produce artificial solar eclipses in orbit, giving prolonged views of the Sun’s ghostly surrounding atmosphere, the corona.
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