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Loading contentEarth-observation and weather satellites that need consistent lighting, such as Landsat, the Sentinels, and Terra/Aqua.
A near-polar low orbit whose plane precesses to keep a constant angle to the Sun, so a satellite passes over each location at the same local solar time — ideal for consistent-illumination Earth imaging.
Earth-observation and weather satellites that need consistent lighting, such as Landsat, the Sentinels, and Terra/Aqua.
14 satellites and constellations modelled in this orbit.
Planet Labs' fleet of shoebox-sized Dove CubeSats that image the entire land surface of the Earth daily at medium resolution.
NASA's Earth Observing System afternoon satellite, focused on the water cycle — precipitation, evaporation, clouds, and ocean properties.
A NASA–CNES mission using a space lidar to profile aerosols and thin clouds in Earth's atmosphere, flying in the A-Train formation.
A NASA mission carrying a cloud-profiling radar that measured the vertical structure of clouds to study their role in climate.
Japan's greenhouse-gases observing satellite — the first satellite dedicated to monitoring atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane from space — operated by JAXA with Japan's National Institute for Environmental Studies.
The first satellite of the Landsat program, which began the longest continuous record of Earth's land surface from space.
A NASA/USGS Landsat satellite carrying the Operational Land Imager and Thermal Infrared Sensor, continuing the multi-decade land-imaging record.
The latest Landsat satellite, launched in 2021 to work in tandem with Landsat 8 for an eight-day global revisit of the land surface.
The first satellite of NOAA's Joint Polar Satellite System, providing global polar-orbiting weather and environmental observations.
A Copernicus radar-imaging mission providing all-weather, day-and-night synthetic-aperture radar imagery of land and ocean.
A Copernicus optical-imaging mission delivering high-resolution multispectral imagery for land monitoring, agriculture, and disaster response.
A Copernicus mission monitoring ocean and land surface temperature, colour, and topography for climate and marine services.
NASA's flagship Earth Observing System morning satellite, carrying instruments including MODIS and ASTER to study land, ocean, and atmosphere.
A Maxar very-high-resolution commercial Earth-imaging satellite used for mapping, defence, and analytics.
Facts on this topic will be cited from these primary and reference sources.
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.
European missions, observatories, and space science imagery.