Goddard Projects Directory

The search for Q produced 2 results out of 249 records QuikSCAT Launch Date: 05/28/1999 The QuikSCAT aircraft acquires all-weather, high-resolution measurements of near-surface winds over global oceans; determines atmospheric forcing, ocean response, and air-sea interaction mechanisms on various spatial and temporal scales; combines wind data with measurements from scientific instruments in other disciplines to help us better understand the mechanisms of global climate change and weather patterns; studies both annual and semi-annual rain forest vegetation changes; and studies daily/seasonal sea ice edge movement and Arctic/Antarctic ice pack changes. QuikScat (Quick Scatterometer) was an American oceanographic satellite. It measured ocean winds and directions by monitoring wind-induced ripples by means of a microwave scatterometer. This spacecraft will carry the Seawinds instrument to replace the NASA Scatterometer lost by failure of Japan's ADEOS satellite. The SeaWinds on QuikSCAT mission is a Other Name(s):  Quick Scatterometer |  GSFC Link  |  Project Information  |  NSSDC Link  |  Additional URL 1  |  Image Gallery  |  Educational Resource  |   QuikTOMS Launch Date: 09/21/2001 The Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer 5, AKA QuikToms, spacecraft did not reach orbit due to a launch vehicle failure on September 21, 2001. This was intended to be a separate spacecraft rather than being included on the previously cancelled Russian METEOR-3 satellite. Built in just two years rather than the traditional three to five, QuikTOMS was planned to take over for the TOMS spacecraft in monitoring global ozone levels (including springtime ozone depletion in both the Arctic and the Antarctic), sulfur dioxide, ash, smoke from fires, and ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth's surface. QuikTOMS followed on a 23-year legacy; this type of extended observation allows scientists to distinguish human-forced changes from natural atmospheric variations and helps quantify the roles of these factors. Such extended, calibrated observations are required for researchers to see the future ozone recovery expected as a result of the 1987 Montreal Protocol, as amended, which limited the production of ozone-destroying industrial chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). QuikTOMS was intended for continued study of the annually recurring Antarctic ozone hole. The year 2000 marked the largest Antarctic hole ever observed -- 28.3 million square kilometers, roughly three times the size of the United States. QuikTOMS would have continued the important job of ozone monitoring now done by the five-year old TOMS instrument on Earth Probe which is beginning to show signs of aging. The TOMS data was to be used primarily to study ozone, but the information gained from TOMS will also contribute to volcanic studies. Volcanoes generate sulfur dioxide (SO2) in the Earth's atmosphere, and the TOMS instrument could track this gas. TOMS could track smoke from forest fires such as those in the Northwestern United States this year, as well as smoke plumes from fires set to clear land in Africa and South America. The NASA QuikTOMS ozone monitoring satellite, launched on September 21, 2001, was lost due to the failure of the commercial launch vehicle purchased by the Agency to deliver the payload into orbit. Everything appeared to go as planned with the launch until approximately 83 seconds into the flight when there was an apparent problem between the first and second stage separation. Other Name(s):  Quick Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer |  GSFC Link  |  Image Gallery  |  Educational Resource  |