NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, plays a key role in many of the agency/s programs of the 1980s. The Center's basic mission is to make possible the expansion of human knowledge of the Earth, its environment, the solar system and the universe through the development and use of near-Earth orbiting spacecraft. Following are brief descriptions of missions GSFC is managing or is providing major support.
Active Magnetosphere Particle Tracer Explorers (AMPTE)
Three satellites, one each from the U.S., West Germany and the United Kingdom, launched in a stack aboard a Delta rocket to study the interaction of the solar wind with Earth's magnetosphere.
Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS)
ERBS produces maps of geographical and seasonal variations of the Earth's radiation budget in a long-range program designed to study phenomena that determine our climate and weather
Landsat
Landsat spacecraft are Earth resources spacecraft operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration but launched by NASA. The spacecraft assist in managing environmental resources: water, agriculture, forest, minerals, oil and other
Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS)
The TIROS spacecraft were the cornerstone of the development of a 24-hour weather-monitoring system. The spacecraft provide day and night global environmental and associated data for operational purposes on a regular basis.
Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS)
TDRSS spacecraft will increase the data rates and accuracy of communications between spacecraft in near Earth orbits and ground stations. The TDRSS will achieve the highest amount of coverage ever achieved by Earth orbiting satellites.
Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)
The GOES spacecraft provide near continual imaging over North and South America; collect environmental data from land, sea and air; and broadcast weather and satellite information.