M6+-+8

measured sea level every 10 days can relate changes in ocean currents to atmospheric and climate patterns The satellite was built for JPL by Fairchild Space Co. In October 2005, after 62,000 orbits of Earth, the mission ended when the spacecraft lost its ability to maneuver, bringing to a close history's longest Earth-orbiting radar mission. || JPL Past || || JPL & NASA Current || on December 18, 1999collecting data about Earth's changing climate. interactions among the Earth's atmosphere, lands, oceans, and radiant energy. || NASA Current || Launched on May 4, 2002. named for the large amount of information being obtained about water. variables being measured include almost all elements of the water cycle and involve water in its liquid, solid, and vapor forms.. Additional variables being measured include radiative energy fluxes, aerosols, vegetation cover on the land, phytoplankton and dissolved organic matter in the oceans, and air, land, and water temperatures. || NASA Current || The Aura mission researches the composition, chemistry, and dynamics of the Earth's atmosphere. It studys the ozone, air quality, and climate.
 * Category 8 – Earth Monitoring **
 * TOPEX/Poseidon ://Launch:// August 10, 1992
 * Jason / Jason 1 is an oceanography mission to monitor global ocean circulation, study the ties between the oceans and atmosphere, improve global climate forecasts and predictions, and monitor events such as El Niño conditions. joint mission of the United States and France.The Jason 1 satellite, its altimeter instrument and a position-tracking antenna were built in France. Jason 1 was launched in December 2001 from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.
 * Terra
 * Aqua
 * **__Aura__**

The Aura spacecraft was successfully launched on July 15, 2004 aboard a Delta II 7920-10L, a two stage expendable rocket, from the Vandenberg Western Test Range.

The Aura spacecraft was launched into a near polar, sun synchronized orbit with a period of about 100 minutes. The spacecraft repeats its ground track every 16 days to provide atmospheric measurements over virtually every point on the Earth in a repeatable pattern as long as geographic conditions stay the same overall. || NASA Current || CloudSat is an experimental satellite that will use radar to study clouds and precipitation from space. CloudSat will fly in orbital formation as part of the A-Train constellation of satellites (Aqua, CloudSat, CALIPSO, PARASOL, and Aura).
 * There were no problems with the satelite and it is still in good working condition.**
 * **__CloudSat__**

CloudSat will use radar to slice through clouds and be able to see their inner structure. CloudSat was launched in April of 2006 and is currently in orbit of the. So far there have not been any major problems and continues to furnish data needed to evaluate and improve the way clouds are represented in global models, thereby contributing to better predictions of clouds and how they affect the climate. CloudSat's primary goal is to furnish data needed to evaluate and improve the way clouds are represented in global models, thereby contributing to better predictions of clouds || JPL & NASA Current || || NASA Current || || NASA Current || RIGHT-CLICK on these links to "Open in a new window"
 * CALIPSO CALIPSO was launched on April 28th, 2006 and will provide new insight into the role that clouds and atmospheric aerosols (airborne particles) play in regulating Earth's weather, climate, and air quality. CALIPSO is in orbit of the Earth and no problems have been reported.
 * **__Landsat__** Landsat was a series of 7 satelites used to observe the Earth's surface and to see the natural changes and charateristics. The last Landsat launched was on April 15, 1999. The satelite was working great until May 2003 when it had a hardware component failure. It was fixed and is still working and now in orbit of the Earth.

JPL PAST Missions http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/past_missions.cfm JPL CURRENT Missions http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/index.cfm NASA CURRENT Missions http://www.nasa.gov/missions/current/index.html