For 10 years, it has silently swooped through space in its orbital perch 705 kilometres above Earth, its nearly 2,400 spectral "eyes" peering into Earth's atmosphere, watching. But there's nothing alien about NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder, or AIRS, instrument, a "monster" of weather and climate research that celebrates its 10th birthday in orbit May 4. AIRS, built by BAE Systems, Boston, under the direction of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., is one of six instruments flying on NASA's Aqua spacecraft as part of NASA's Earth Observing System. Read more
The AMSR-E antenna stopped spinning at 0726GMT Oct 4, most likely due to aging lubricant in the mechanism. AMSR-E is currently not producing any data. The Aqua spacecraft accommodated the spin-down, which occurred over a period of about 25 minutes, and continues to operate normally, with all other instruments functioning in science mode. NASA will work with JAXA to understand the condition of the AMSR-E instrument and possible future steps. Read more
Observation Completion by Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS (AMSR-E)
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has been operating the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS (AMSR-E) for over nine years (despite a design life of three years) as an onboard device installed in the American earth observation satellite Aqua, after its launch on May 4, 2002. Since the end of August, 2011, however, the continuous increase of relatively large antenna rotation friction was detected twice, thus JAXA has been monitoring the condition. At 3:58 p.m. on October 4, 2011 (Japan Standard Time,) the AMSR-E reached its limit to maintain the rotation speed necessary for regular observations (40 rotations per minute), and the radiometer automatically halted its observations and rotation. JAXA will continue to analyse this problem, and take necessary measures to correct the situation. We will also launch the successor to the AMSR-E, the Global Change Observation Mission 1st- Water "SHIZUKU" (GCOM-W1.)
Aqua (EOS PM-1) is a multi-national NASA scientific research satellite in orbit around the Earth, studying the precipitation, evaporation, and cycling of water. It is the second major component of the Earth Observing System (EOS) preceded by Terra (launched 1999) and followed by Aura (launched 2004).