One of the first satellites to be used for remote sensing of the Earth was the SEASAT, launched on June 28th, 1978. Seasat was the first orbiting satellite designed to collect information about the Earth's oceans. It had four main components: an altimeter to determine the height of the satellit...
| Other Authors: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.567.3513 http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~gth116a/Seasat_Project.pdf |
| Summary: | One of the first satellites to be used for remote sensing of the Earth was the SEASAT, launched on June 28th, 1978. Seasat was the first orbiting satellite designed to collect information about the Earth's oceans. It had four main components: an altimeter to determine the height of the satellite with respect to the ocean surface, a microwave scatterometer to measure wind speed and direction, a scanning multichannel microwave radiometer to measure sea surface temperature, and a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to monitor the global surface wave field and polar sea ice conditions. This paper examines each of the four main components of the Seasat, as well as other characteristics of the satellite. The paper focuses on the SAR capabilities and operation. On October 10th, 1978, a massive short circuit destroyed the satellite’s electrical system and ended the mission, but despite this failure, the Seasat proved the advantages and possibilities of remote sensing of the Earth through orbiting satellites. I. |
|---|