Editing Earth Observing System (section)

== Mission list with launch dates ==

{{multiple image |align=center |direction=horizontal |total_width=1000
 | image1 = NASA Earth Science Division Operating Missions.jpg
 | caption1 = NASA Earth Science Division Operating Missions as of 2 February 2015
 | image2 = NASA's 2011 fleet of Earth remote sensing observatories.ogv
 | caption2 = This animation shows the orbits of NASA's 2011 fleet of Earth remote sensing observatories
 }}

{| class="wikitable"
|bgcolor="#ddffdd"|<small>'''Active mission'''</small>
|bgcolor="#FFCCCC"|<small>'''Completed mission'''</small>
|}

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%;"
|-
! Satellite
! Launch date
! Designed mission duration
! Completion date
! Launch site
! Agency
! Mission description
|-
| [[Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor Satellite|ACRIMSAT]]
| 20 December 1999
|
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC"| 30 July 2014
| [[Vandenberg Air Force Base|Vandenberg]] || [[NASA]]
| Study Total Solar Irradiance
|-
|[[ADEOS I]]
|17 August 1996
|
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC"|30 June 1997
|[[Tanegashima Space Center|Tanegashima]]
|[[NASA]] / [[National Space Development Agency of Japan|NASDA]]
|Study wind scattering and map the ozone layer
|-
| [[ADEOS II]] (Midori II)
| 14 December 2002
|
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC"| 24 October 2003
| Tanegashima || [[Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency|JAXA]] {{\}} [[NASA]]
| Monitor the water and energy cycle as a part of the global climate system
|-
|[[ATS-3]]
|7 December 1966
|3 years
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC"|1 December 1978<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://science.nasa.gov/missions/ats|title=ATS {{!}} Science Mission Directorate|website=science.nasa.gov|access-date=2016-10-27}}</ref>
|[[Cape Canaveral Space Force Station|Cape Canaveral]]
|[[NASA]]
|Weather observation
|-
|[[ATLAS-1]]
|24 March 1992
|
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC"| 2 April 1992
|[[Cape Canaveral Space Force Station|Cape Canaveral]]
|[[NASA]]
|Unravel man's impact on the environment
|-
|[[Challenging Minisatellite Payload|CHAMP]]
|15 July 2000
|5 years
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC"|19 September 2010
|[[Plesetsk Cosmodrome|Plesetsk 132/1]]
|[[GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences|GFZ]]
|Atmospheric and ionospheric research
|-
|[[CRRES]]
|25 July 1990
|3 years
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC"|12 October 1991
|[[Cape Canaveral Space Force Station|Cape Canaveral]]
|[[NASA]]
|Investigate fields, plasmas, and energetic particles inside the magnetosphere
|-
|[[Dynamics Explorer|DE 1 and DE 2]]
|3 August 1981
|
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC"|28 February 1991 and 19 February 1983
|[[Vandenberg Air Force Base|Vandenberg]]
|[[NASA]]
|Investigate the interactions between plasmas in the magnetosphere and those in the ionosphere
|-
|[[Earth Radiation Budget Satellite|ERBS]]
|5 October 1984
|2 years
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC"|14 October 2005
|[[Cape Canaveral Space Force Station|Cape Canaveral]]
|[[NASA]]
|Study the Earth's radiation budget and stratospheric aerosol and gases
|-
|[[Environmental Science Services Administration|ESSA]] program
|1966–1969
|
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC"|
|[[Cape Canaveral Space Force Station|Cape Canaveral]]
|[[Environmental Science Services Administration|ESSA]]{{\}}[[NASA]]
|Provide cloud-cover photography
|-
|[[European Remote-Sensing Satellite|ERS-1]]
|17 July 1991
|
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC"|March 2000
|[[Kourou spaceport|Kourou]]
|[[European Space Agency|ESA]]
|Measure wind speed and direction and ocean wave parameters
|-
| [[SeaWiFS]]
| 1 August 1997
| 1 August 2002
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC"| 11 December 2010
| [[Vandenberg Air Force Base|Vandenberg]] || [[GeoEye]]{{\}}[[NASA]]
| Provide quantitative data on global ocean bio-optical properties
|-
| [[Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission|TRMM]]
| 27 November 1997
| 27 November 2000
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC"| 9 April 2015
| [[Tanegashima Space Center|Tanegashima]] || [[NASA]]{{\}}[[Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency|JAXA]]
| Monitor and study tropical rainfall
|-
| [[Landsat 7]]
| 15 April 1999
| 
| bgcolor= "#FFCCCC" | 27 September 2021
| [[Vandenberg Air Force Base|Vandenberg]] || [[NASA]]
| Supply the world with global land surface images
|-
| [[QuikSCAT]]
| 19 June 1999
| 19 June 2002
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC"| 19 November 2009
| Vandenberg || [[NASA]]{{\}}[[Jet Propulsion Laboratory|JPL]]
| Acquire global radar cross-sections and near-surface vector winds
|-
| [[Terra (satellite)|Terra]] (EOS-AM)
| 18 December 1999
| 18 December 2005
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"| Active
| Vandenberg || NASA
| Provide global data on the state of the atmosphere, land, and oceans
|-
| [[New Millennium program|NMP]]/[[Earth Observing 1|EO-1]]
| 21 November 2000
|
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC"| 30 March 2017
| Vandenberg || [[NASA]]
| Demonstrate new technologies and strategies for improved Earth observations
|-
| [[Jason 1]]
| 7 December 2001
|
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC"| 1 July 2013
| Vandenberg || [[NASA]]{{\}}[[CNES]]
| Provide information on ocean surface current velocity and heights
|-
| [[Meteor (satellite)#Meteor-3M|Meteor 3M]]-1/Sage III{{pad|1em}}
| 10 December 2001
|
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC"| 6 March 2006
| [[Baikonur Cosmodrome|Baikonur]] || [[Russian Federal Space Agency|Roscosmos]]
| Provide accurate, long-term measurements of ozone, aerosols, water vapor, and other key parameters of Earth's atmosphere
|-
| [[Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment|GRACE]]
| 17 March 2002
| 
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC"| 27 October 2017
|  [[Plesetsk Cosmodrome]] || NASA{{\}}[[German Aerospace Center|DLR]]
| Measure Earth's mean and time-variable gravity field
|-
| [[Aqua (satellite)|Aqua]]
| 4 May 2002
| 4 May 2008
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"| Active
| Vandenberg || NASA
| Collect water information in the Earth system
|-
| [[ICESat]]
| 12 January 2003
|
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC"| 14 August 2010
| Vandenberg || [[NASA]]
| Measuring ice sheet mass balance, cloud and aerosol heights, and land topography and vegetation characteristics
|-
| [[Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment|SORCE]]
| 25 January 2003
| 
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC"| 25 February 2020
| [[Cape Canaveral Space Force Station|Cape Canaveral]] || [[NASA]]
| Improve understanding of the Sun
|-
| [[Aura (satellite)|Aura]]
| 15 July 2004
| 15 July 2010
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"| Active
| Vandenberg || [[NASA]]
| Investigate questions about ozone trends, air-quality changes and their linkage to climate change
|-
| [[CloudSat]]
|28 April 2006
| 28 April 2009
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"| Active
|Vandenberg || [[NASA]]
| Provide the first direct, global survey of the vertical structure and overlap of cloud systems and their liquid and ice-water contents
|-
| [[CALIPSO]]
| 28 April 2006
|
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"| Active
| Vandenberg
| [[NASA]]{{\}}[[CNES]]
| Improve understanding of the role aerosols and clouds play in regulating the Earth's climate
|-
| [[Soil Moisture Active Passive|SMAP]]
| 31 January 2015
| 31 May 2018
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"| Active
| Vandenberg || [[NASA]]
| Measure surface soil moisture and freeze-thaw state
|-
| [[Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2|OCO-2]]
| 2 July 2014
| 2 July 2019
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"| Active
| Vandenberg || [[National Aeronautics and Space Administration|NASA]]
| Provide space-based global measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide
|-
| [[Aquarius (SAC-D instrument)|Aquarius]]
| 10 June 2011
| 3 years
| bgcolor="#FFCCCC"| 17 June 2015 <ref>{{cite web|url=http://aquarius.umaine.edu/cgi/status_more.htm?id=116|title=NASA Aquarius Mission – Mission Status & Event Report|first=Lisa Taylor, Aquarius EPO|last=Team|website=aquarius.umaine.edu}}</ref>
| Vandenberg || [[NASA]] {{\}} [[Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales|CONAE]]
| Map the spatial and temporal variations of sea surface salinity
|-
| [[Landsat 8]]
| 11 February 2013
| 11 February 2018
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"| Active
|  Vandenberg
| [[NASA]]{{\}}[[United States Geological Survey|USGS]]
| Supply the world with global land surface images
|-
| [[ICESat-2]]
| 15 September 2018
| 3 years
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"| Active
| Vandenberg
| [[NASA]]
| Measuring ice sheet mass balance, cloud and aerosol heights, and land topography and vegetation characteristics
|-
| [[Landsat 9]]
| 27 September 2021
| 5 years
| bgcolor="#ddffdd"| Active
| Vandenberg
| [[NASA]]{{\}}[[United States Geological Survey|USGS]]
| Global land surface images, continuation of the [[Landsat program]]
|}