Aqua – EOS Mission

Aqua, an EOS Mission – The Fluid Investigator. Aims to explore Earth’s water in all its forms, from ocean currents to clouds, to find vital discoveries about Earth’s water cycle.

Mission Objective

Aqua is a scientific research satellite that studies our planet’s water cycle, including perception, evaporation, and water vapor of all its derivatives on Earth.

Mission Significance

The investigation of the global water cycle of Earth allows science to gain a greater understanding of the fundamental dynamics and processes that occur all over our planet. Moreover, its investigation provides data about weather forecasts, proper management of natural resources, and homeland security.

Source: NASA

Engineering Challenges

Aqua carries a diverse suite of instruments, each operating across different spectral regions. Integrating those into a single platform requires highly precise optical alignment and stable calibration. In addition, the spacecraft endures significant thermal cycling and long-term solar exposure, making emissivity stability and material robustness essential. Nevertheless, achieving consistent data for climate sciences adds to the complexity of  Aqua’s instrument suite.

Mission Components

Terra’s payload contains six instruments, four of which are still operating. All of them are designed to study water in our atmosphere and on our Earth’s surface:

Acktar’s Solution

To support Aqua’s instrument set, Acktar provided black coating technologies, including Magic Black and Fractal Black, which are applied to the satellite instruments, contributing to thermal stability and enabling accurate data transmission and instrument endurance in the space environment.

Source: NASA

Impact

Aqua has been observing and studying Earth’s water cycle for over 20 years. This period significantly contributed to understanding the global water cycle and everything related.

Using the instrument’s data, it was possible to determine the amount of heat stored in our oceans worldwide using various instruments for measuring sea surface temperature. This data is vital for understanding climate regulation, as the oceans play a crucial role.

Ocean Salinity – A global map of ocean salinity was created using observational data. The ocean’s salinity influences its circulation patterns. Those patterns determine the transport of heat, organisms, and nutrients worldwide. Therefore, understanding their behavior helps with understanding global heat regulation.
Ocean Phytoplankton Tracking – Using colometry, Aqua has enabled tracking the growth and distribution of the phytoplankton. The phytoplankton is the base of the ocean food web. Moreover, it plays a significant role in the absorption of CO2.

Aqua’s journey in Earth’s lower orbit continues to convey essential data about the global water cycle. While the journey’s end has been planned, we can’t know which surprises Aqua is preparing for us and how long it will keep spinning around our planet.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 ACKTAR PARTS: