List of Earth observation satellites

Earth observation satellites are Earth-orbiting spacecraft with sensors used to collect imagery and measurements of the surface of the earth. These satellites are used to monitor short-term weather, long-term climate change, natural disasters. Earth observations satellites provide information for research subjects that benefit from looking at Earth’s surface from above (such as meteorology, oceanography, terrestrial ecology, glaciology, atmospheric science, hydrology, geology, and many more). Types of sensors on these satellites include passive and active remote sensors. Sensors on Earth observation satellites often take measurements of emitted energy over some portion of the electromagnetic spectrum (e.g., UV, visible, infrared, microwave, or radio).^[1]

True color image of the Earth from space. This image is a composite image collected over 16 days by the MODIS sensor on NASA’s Terra satellite.

NASA Earth science satellite fleet as of September 2020, planned through 2023.

Earth observation satellite missions developed by the ESA as of 2019.

The invention of climate research through the use of satellite remote telemetry began in the 1960s through development of space probes to study other planets. During the U.S. economic decline in 1977, with much of NASA's money going toward the shuttle program, the Reagan Administration proposed to reduce spending on planetary exploration. During this time, new scientific evidence emerged from ice and sediment cores that Earth's climate had experienced rapid changes in temperature, running contrary to the previously held belief that the climate changed on a geological time scale. These changes increased political interest in gathering remote-sensing data on the Earth itself and stimulated the science of climatology.^[2]

Classification

The lists below classify Earth observation satellites in two large groups: satellites operated by government agencies of one or more countries (public domain) versus commercial satellites built and maintained by companies (private domain).^[3] The satellite lifetime, between launch and reentry, is often called a satellite mission. These lists focus on currently active missions, rather than inactive retired missions or planned future missions. However, some examples of past and future satellites are included. Active, inactive, or planned classifications are relevant as of 2021.

Public domain or government agency satellites

Active government satellites

Name	Status	Agency	Launch [note 1]	Description
ALOS-2	Active	JAXA	2014
ALOS-4	Active	JAXA	2024
Alsat-2A and 2B	Active	Algerian Space Agency (ASAL)	2016
Amazônia-1	Active	Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE)	2021
Aqua	Active	NASA	2002	Carries six instruments to observe interactions among the four spheres for Earth's systems: oceans, land, atmosphere, and biosphere.[5]
ASNARO-2	Active	JAXA	2018
Aura	Active	NASA	2004	Studies earth's ozone, air quality, and climate though observation of composition, chemistry, and dynamics of the atmosphere.[6]
Badr-B	Active	Pakistan’s Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO)	2001
Cartosat-1	Active	Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)	2005
Cartosat-2A and 2B	Active	ISRO	2007
Cartosat-2C, 2D, 2E, and 2F	Active	ISRO	2016
Cartosat-3	Active	ISRO	2019
CBERS-4	Active	Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and China National Space Administration (CNSA)	2014
Chollian 1, 2A, and 2B	Active	KARI	2010	Also known as Communication, Ocean and Meteorological Satellites (COMS). Used for communication, oceanography, and meteorological observation.
CloudSat	Active	NASA	2006	Uses radar to measure the altitude and properties of clouds.[7]
COSMO-SkyMed 1 to 4	Active	Italian Space Agency (ASI)	2007	Used for defense and security assurance in Italy and other countries, seismic hazard analysis, environmental disaster monitoring, and agricultural mapping.
CryoSat-2	Active	ESA	2010
CYGNSS	Active	NASA	2016	Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System.
DSCOVR	Active	NASA	2015	Deep Space Climate Observatory. Designed to study the Sun-lit side of Earth from the L1 Lagrange point.[8]
DubaiSat-1 and 2	Active	Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC)	2009
EarthCARE	Active	ESA and JAXA	2024	Designed to study clouds and aerosols.[9]
Elektro-L No. 1, 2, and 3	Active	Russia's Roscosmos	2011
Fengyun 2D to 4A	Active	China Meteorological Administration	2006	Translated from Chinese, the word Fengyun means "wind cloud." Series 3 satellites are Sun-synchronous and series 2 and 4 satellites are geosynchronous.
Formosat-5	Active	Taiwan’s National Space Organization (NSPO)	2017
Gaofen-2	Active	CNSA	2014
Gaofen-3	Active	CNSA	2016
GOES-16 and 17	Active	NASA	2016	Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite. Collects weather observations. See also: List of GOES satellites.
Gokturk-1	Active	Turkish Ministry of National Defense	2016	Used for mapping and planning, landcover survey, geology, ecosystem monitoring, disaster management, environmental control, coastal zone management, and water resources.
Gokturk-2	Active	Turkish Ministry of National Defense	2012	Used for mapping and planning, landcover survey, geology, ecosystem monitoring, disaster management, environmental control, coastal zone management, and water resources.[10]
GPM	Active	NASA and JAXA	2014	Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory. Used to study rainfall and snowfall.[11][12]
GOES-16, -17	Active	NASA	2016	monitors weather for NOAA.
GRACE-FO	Active	NASA	2018[13][14]	Gravity and climate. The mission will track changes in global sea levels, glaciers, and ice sheets, as well as large lake and river water levels, and soil moisture.[15]
GOSAT	Active	JAXA	2009	Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite. The first precise carbon dioxide observing satellite and precursor to OCO-2.
Himawari 8 and 9	Active	Japan Meteorological Agency	2014	Similar to NASA's GOES satellites.
ICESat-2	Active	NASA	2018	Measures ice sheet height changes for climate change diagnoses.[16][17]
IMS-1	Active	ISRO	2008
ISS	Active	NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA, ESA, and CSA	1998	The International Space Station (ISS) has long been used as a central satellite platform for other sensors, including Earth observation sensors. For example: LIS, SAGE III, TSIS-I, ECOSTRESS, GEDI, OCO-3, Diwata-1, and HICO.
Jason-3	Active	NASA and CNES	2016	Radar altimeter used to monitor ocean surface height.
KhalifaSat	Active	MBRSC	2018	Also known as DubaiSat-3.
KOMPSAT-2	Active	KARI	2006	Korean Multi-purpose Satellite-2. Also known as Arirang-2.
KOMPSAT-3, 3A, and 5	Active	KARI	2012	Korean Multi-purpose Satellite-3, 3A, and 5. Also known as Arirang-3, 3A, and 5.
LAGEOS-1 and 2	Active	NASA	1976	LAGEOS 1 launched in 1976 and LAGEOS 2 launched in 1992. Used as an orbiting benchmark for geodynamical studies.[18]
Landsat-7	Active	NASA and USGS	1999	Images Earth's land surfaces and coastal areas with global coverage at high spatial resolution.[19]
Landsat-8	Active	NASA and USGS	2013	Follow on to Landsat-7 with improved imager OLI and thermal sensor TIRS.
Landsat-9	Active	NASA and USGS	2021	Follow on to Landsat-8 with OLI sensor and thermal sensor TIRS-2. Landsat-9 will extend the Landsat program to maintain the time series of these types of data.
Megha-Tropiques	Active	CNES and ISRO	2011
Meteor-M No. 1 and 2	Active	Roscosmos	2009
Meteosat 8	Active	EUMETSAT	2002	Also known as MSG 1.
MetOp A, B, and C	Active	NASA, ESA, and NOAA	2006	Meteorological Operational satellite. Part of the Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) program.
Mohammed VI-A and VI-B	Active	Arianespace and Morocco	2017	See also: Vega flight VV11 and Vega flight VV13
NigComSat-1R	Active	NASRDA	2009	DFH-4 satellite and replacement for the failed NigComSat-1
NigeriaSat-1 and 2	Active	NASRDA	2003	Part of the worldwide Disaster Monitoring Constellation System
NOAA-15, 18, and 19	Active	NASA, ESA, and NOAA	1998	Part of the Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) program.
NOAA-20	Active	NASA and NOAA	2017	Part of the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) program.
Oceansat-2	Active	ISRO	2009
OCO-2	Active	NASA	2014	Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2. Part of the A-Train. The second precise carbon dioxide observing satellite after GOSAT.
PACE	Active	NASA	2024	Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystem measures hyperspectral and polarimetric characteristics of solar radiation reflected off Earth’s surface and atmosphere.
PakTES-1A	Active	SUPARCO	2018
Paz	Active	Spain's Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial	2018
Pleiades 1A and 1B	Active	CNES	2011
PRISMA	Active	Italian Space Agency (ASI)	2019	PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa, in English: Hyperspectral Precursor of the Application Mission.
PROBA-V	Active	ESA	2013	Continues the traditional Vegetation (the "V" in PROBA-V) products that began with the SPOT satellites.[20]
PRSS-1	Active	SUPARCO	2018	Pakistan Remote Sensing Satellite 1.
RCM	Active	CSA	2019	RADARSAT Constellation Mission.
RADARSAT-2	Active	CSA	2007	C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR-C) satellite.
RASAT	Active	TÜBITAK-UZAY	2011
Resourcesat-1 and 2	Active	ISRO	2003
Resurs-P No.1 and 2	Active	Roscosmos	2013
SAOCOM	Active	CONAE	2018
SARAL	Active	ISRO	2013
Sentinel-1A, B and C	Active	ESA	2014	Constellation of two, each satellite carries C-SAR sensor. Part of the Copernicus Programme.
Sentinel-2A, B, and C	Active	ESA	2015	Constellation of three, each satellite carries MSI sensor for high spatial resolution imaging. Part of the Copernicus Programme.
Sentinel-3A and B	Active	ESA	2016	Constellation of two, each satellite carries sensors OLCI and SLSTR. Slightly coarser spatial resolution and more spectral bands than Sentinel-2. Part of the Copernicus Programme.
Sentinel-6A	Active	ESA	2020	Continuing the legacy of the Jason series missions, Sentinel-6/Jason-CS will extend the records of sea level (sea surface height) and provide information for operational oceanography, marine meteorology, and climate studies.[21]
SMAP	Active	NASA	2015	Soil Moisture Active Passive. Measures soil moisture and its freeze/thaw state, which enhance understanding of processes that link water, energy, and carbon cycles to extend the capabilities of weather and climate models. Radar payload failed in July 2015, leaving a radiometer as the primary instrument of the mission.[22]
SORCE	Active	NASA	2003	monitors total output from the Sun for understanding of Earth's absorption of radiation energy.[16]
Suomi NPP	Active	NASA	2011	Part of the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) program.
SWOT	Active	CNES and NASA	2022
TanDEM-X	Active	DLR	2010
Terra	Active	NASA	1999	Carries five instruments to observe the state of the atmosphere, land, and oceans, as well as their interactions with solar radiation and with one another.[23]
TerraSAR-X	Active	DLR	2007
THEOS	Active	GISTDA	2008	Also known as Thaichote.
TIMED	Active	NASA	2001	Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere, Energetics, and Dynamics.
VNREDSat-1A	Active	VAST	2013	The Vietnamese Natural Resources, Environment and Disaster Monitoring Satellite.
VRSS-1 and 2	Active	ABAE	2012	The Venezuelan Remote Sensing Satellite.
Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P)	Active	ESA	2017
SMOS	Active	ESA	2009

Inactive government satellites

Name	Status	Agency	Launch [note 1]	Description
ACRIMSAT	Inactive	NASA	1999	Studied sun's UV to infrared energy output.[24] Contact was lost in December 2013.[25]
ADEOS-II	Inactive	NASDA, NASA, and CNES	2002
Arirang-1	Inactive	KARI	1999
BelKA	Inactive	National Academy of Sciences of Belarus	2006	Failed to orbit.
BILSAT-1	Inactive	TÜBITAK-UZAY	2003	Retired 2006
EO-1	Inactive	NASA	2001	Earth Observing 1. Carried land-imaging technology and demonstrated new instruments and spacecraft systems for future missions.[26] Retired 2017.[27]
Envisat	Inactive	ESA	2002	Envisat stands for "Environmental satellite." Carried sensors such as MERIS and SCIAMACHY. Retired 2012.
Formosat-2	Inactive	NSPO	2004	Retired 2016
GLORY	Inactive	NASA	2011	Designed to study aerosols, including black carbon, in addition to solar irradiance.[28] Failed launch.[29]
GOES-12 to 15	Inactive	NASA	2001	Monitored weather for NOAA.[30]
GRACE-1 and 2	Inactive	NASA and German Space Agency	2002	Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment. Tracked changes in global sea levels, glaciers, and ice sheets, as well as large lake and river water levels, and soil moisture.[31] Retired 2017.[32]
ICESat	Inactive	NASA	2003	Measured ice sheet height changes for climate change diagnoses.[33]
Jason-1 and 2	Inactive	NASA and CNES	2001	Radar altimeters used to monitor ocean surface height.[34]
Lapan-TUBsat	Inactive	LAPAN	2007	Also known as LAPAN A1. Microsatellite based on DLR-Tubsat. Retired 2013.
Maya-1	Inactive	Philippine Space Agency	2018	Retired 2020.
Munin	Inactive	SNSA	2000	Retired 2001.
OrbView-2	Inactive	NASA	1997	Also known as Seastar. Carried sensor SeaWiFS. Monitored the color of Earth's oceans.[35][36] Retired 2010.
QuikSCAT	Inactive	NASA	1997	Monitored weather using bursts of microwaves which measure wind speeds.[37]
Resurs-DK No.1	Inactive	Roscosmos	2006
RISAT-1	Inactive	ISRO	2012	Retired 2016.
SAC-D	Inactive	NASA and CONAE	2011	Carried the Aquarius instrument, which measured ocean salinity (salt concentration) which improves knowledge of heat transport and storage in the ocean. Mission ended June 2015 due to satellite power supply failure.[38]
TOPEX/Poseidon	Inactive	NASA and CNES	1992	Part of NASA's Earth-Sun System Missions. Retired 2006.
TRMM	Inactive	NASA and JAXA	1997	Carried five instruments which uses radar and sensors of visible infrared light to closely monitor precipitation.[39]
UARS	Inactive	NASA	1991	Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite. Part of NASA's Earth-Sun System Missions. Retired 2005.
Vanguard 2	Inactive	NRL	1959	Vanguard 2E. The first weather satellite, designed to measure cloud cover. Part of Project Vanguard.

Planned government satellites

Name	Status	Agency	Description
Göktürk-3	Planned	Turkish Ministry of National Defense	Planned high resolution SAR satellite.
SABIA-Mar	Planned	AEB and CONAE
FORUM	Planned	ESA	Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring; a mission to measure Earth's outgoing radiation emissions across the entire far-infrared electromagnetic spectrum.

Private or commercial satellites

Active commercial satellites

Name	Status	Owner/Agency	Launch [note 1]
Disaster Monitoring Constellation[40]	Active	DMC International Imaging	2009
EROS A and B	Active	ImageSat International	2000
Flock-1 Constellation	Active	Planet	2014
GeoEye-1	Active	DigitalGlobe (Maxar)	2008
GRUS [ja]-1A to E[41]	Active	Axelspace [ja][42]	2018
ICEYE	Active	ICEYE	2018
Jilin-1 (Hyperspectral)	Active	Chang Guang Satellite Technology	2019
Jilin-1 (Optical	Active	Chang Guang Satellite Technology	2015
NovaSAR-S1[42]	Active	UK Space Agency and Surrey Satellite Technology	2018
PlanetScope-2[43]	Active	Planet	2016
SkySat-1 to 3	Active	Planet	2013
SkySat-4 to 7	Active	Planet	2016
SkySat-8 to 13	Active	Planet	2017
SPOT 6 and 7	Active	EADS Astrium Azercosmos, and CNES	2012
SuperView-1[44]	Active	Beijing Space View Technology	2018
TripleSat (UK-DMC 3)[45][46]	Active	DMC International Imaging	2015
Vivid-i 1 to 5[47]	Active	Earth-i[48]	2018
WorldView-1	Active	DigitalGlobe (Maxar)	2007
WorldView-2 and 3	Active	DigitalGlobe (Maxar)	2009
Pleiades Neo 3	Active	Airbus Defence and Space	2021
Pleiades Neo 4	Active	Airbus Defence and Space	2021
CO3D-1 to 4	Active	Airbus Defence and Space / CNES	2025

Inactive commercial satellites

Name	Status	Owner/Agency	Launch [note 1]	End of mission
IKONOS	Inactive	DigitalGlobe (Maxar)	1999	2015
QuickBird	Inactive	DigitalGlobe (Maxar)	2001	2015
RapidEye	Inactive	Planet	2008	2020[49]
WorldView-4	Inactive	DigitalGlobe (Maxar)	2016	2019

Planned commercial satellites

Name	Status	Owner/Agency	Launch [note 1]	End of mission	Description
Pléiades Neo Next [50]	Planned	Airbus Defence and Space	2027		Based on Airbus S950 Optical product

See also

NASA Water and Energy Cycle satellite missions as of 2006.

NASA Earth science satellites as of 2017.

• Spaceflight portal
• Earth sciences portal

Main category: Earth observation satellites

• Committee on Earth Observation Satellites
• Earth observation satellite
• First images of Earth from space
• Orbital spaceflight
• Imaging satellites
• Satellite
• Satellite imagery
• Timeline of Earth science satellites
• Uncrewed space mission

Related lists:

• List of government space agencies
• List of orbits
• List of satellites in geosynchronous orbit
• List of uncrewed spacecraft by program

Notes

1. For constellations of multiple satellites, launch year is listed here as the maiden launch year for the first satellite in the series.^[4]