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Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer

ASTER

Designed to capture high-resolution images of Earth, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, or ASTER, instrument is one of five instruments aboard NASA's Terra satellite.

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Aster

Mission Statistics

Time in Orbit

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Launch Date

Dec. 18, 1999

Type

Instrument

Target

Earth

Status

Current

About the mission

Designed to capture high-resolution images of Earth, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, or ASTER, instrument is one of five instruments aboard NASA's Terra satellite. The instrument's data are used to create detailed maps of land surface temperature, emissivity, reflectance and elevation on Earth.

Images taken by the ASTER instrument also provide detailed views of the effects of global climate change and extreme weather on Earth's landforms and topography.

Mission Events

June 29, 2009: NASA and Japan release the ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model, a digital topographic map of Earth covering more of the planet than ever before.

Key Discoveries

ASTER has gathered high-resolution images of landforms and topography affected by major weather events on Earth, including tsunamis, earthquakes and floods, as well as land changes due to global climate change.

Instruments

  • Visible and near-infrared (VNIR) telescope
  • Shortwave infrared (SWIR) telescope
  • Thermal infrared (TIR) telescope

Mission Highlights

Dec. 18, 1999

Launch

Launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California

June 29, 2009

Global Digital Elevation Model

NASA and Japan release the ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model, a digital topographic map of Earth covering more of the planet than ever before.
Target: Earth
ASTER

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