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Black and white artist's concept of Seasat A, the first spacecraft dedicated for oceanographic studies. Seasat A was designed for monitoring the Earth's oceans with active microwave instruments. The scientific objectives were to collect data on sea-surface winds, oceanography, sea-surface temperatures, wave heights, wavelength and direction, atmospheric water, and sea ice features. Seasat-A was launched on June 16, 1978, on an Atlas-Agena launch vehicle from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The mission ended after 116 days due to a failure of the spacecraft's electric power system. The mission demonstrated the feasibility of using microwave sensors to monitor ocean conditions, and laid the groundwork for future ocean missions. The science of oceanography began more than 100 years ago with the sailing of HMS Challenger. Challenger's round-the- world trip became the model for oceanographic voyages. Photo Credit: NASA [0003-0612-0812-1713] by 0003
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Keywords
atlas-agena challenger, black and white, earth science, nasa, oceanographic studies, oceanography, seasat-a, spacecraft
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