Back to Top

ASK OCE — June 21, 2007 — Vol. 2, Issue 4

 

On June 28, 1978, Seasat-A was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard an Atlas-Agena launch vehicle.

Seasat-A was the first satellite to make global observations of the Earth’s oceans through the use of active microwave instruments. The satellite was designed to demonstrate techniques for global monitoring of oceanographic phenomena and features, to provide oceanographic data, and to determine key features of an operational ocean-dynamics monitoring system. The major difference between Seasat-A and previous Earth observation satellites was the use of active and passive microwave sensors to achieve an all-weather capability.

After 106 days of returning data, contact with Seasat-A was lost when a short circuit drained all power from its batteries.

Read more about Seasat-A.

In This Issue

Message from the Chief Engineer

Archimedes Archive: The History of U.S. Engineering Standards

This Week in NASA History: Seasat-A

The NASA Technical Standards Program: An Enterprise Approach

Enhancing Standards at DOD: The Defense Standardization Program

The United States Standards Strategy

Ames Partnership To Develop Machine-to-Machine Intelligence System

A View from the Outside: South Korea Nears Completion of First Space Center

About the Author

Share With Your Colleagues