EO (Earth Observing) satellites is a series of spacecraft in NASA's New Millennium Program Earth Observing series. Only EO-1 has been launched (in 2000, see details below). EO-2, also known as SPARCLE, was cancelled in 1999; EO-3, also known GIFTS, was cancelled in 2004.

 

EO-1's main goal is to flight-validate a set of advanced land imaging (ALI) instruments that will reduce the costs of future Landsat missions. The spacecraft is in an orbit that allows it to fly in formation with Landsat 7 and take a series of the same images. Comparison of these "paired scene" images is one way of evaluating EO-1's instruments. Future use of ALI technology will cut the mass and power consumption by a factor of seven compared to the Landsat 7 imager. EO-1 uses a pulsed plasma thruster for pitch and axis control and momentum management.

 

EO-1 is a component of NASA's EOS (Earth Observing System).

 

EO-1 statistics
launch date	Nov 21, 2000
launch vehicle	Delta 7320
launch site	Vandenberg Air Force Base
orbit	705 km × 98.7° (circular, sun-synchronous)