LATEST FEATURED IMAGE FROM ASTER: |
Kouru, French Guiana
At the mouth of the Kourou River, French Guiana, sits the town of Kourou. A short distance west of town is the Guiana Space Centre, where the European Space Agency, the French space agency CNES, and the commercial Arianespace conduct satellite launches. Updated on 6/5/2013
The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) is an imaging
instrument onboard Terra, the flagship satellite of NASA's Earth Observing System
(EOS) launched in December 1999.
ASTER is a cooperative effort between NASA, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade
and Industry (METI), and Japan Space Systems
(J-spacesystems). ASTER data is used to create detailed maps of land surface temperature, reflectance,
and elevation. The coordinated system of EOS satellites, including Terra, is a major component
of NASA's Science Mission Directorate and the
Earth Science Division.
The goal of NASA Earth Science is to develop a scientific understanding of the Earth as an
integrated system, its response to change, and to better predict variability and trends in climate,
weather, and natural hazards.
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