This animation shows the orbits of NASA's fleet of Earth observing spacecraft that are considered operational as of December 2021. Note that Landsat 9 is still completing the commissioning period and is expected to be declared operational in mid-January 2022. The clouds used in this version are from a high resolution GEOS model run at 10 minute time steps interpolated down to the per-frame level.
Changes to this version include: removal of Landsat-7 and addition of Landsat-9. Spacecraft included: • Aqua • Aura • CALIPSO: Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation • CYGNSS-1: Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System 1 • CYGNSS-2: Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System 2 • CYGNSS-3: Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System 3 • CYGNSS-4: Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System 4 • CYNGSS-5: Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System 5 • CYGNSS-6: Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System 6 • CYGNSS-7: Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System 7 • CYGNSS-8: Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System 8 • Cloudsat • GPM: Global Precipitation Measurement • GRACE-FO-1: Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow On-1 • GRACE-FO-2: Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow On-2 • ICESat-2 • ISS: International Space Station • Landsat 8 • Landsat 9 • OCO-2: Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 • SMAP: Soil Moisture Passive Active • Suomi NPP: Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership • Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich • Terra