50 years of Earth Observation
| Russia | U.S. | Europe | Rest of the world |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1957-1961 | |||
| Aug. 1959 – Explorer 6 takes first pictures of the Earth.
Apr. 1960 – Tiros 1, 1st weather satellite. Aug. 1960 – Discoverer 14, 1st recovery of Earth pictures on film. |
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| 1962-1966 | |||
| Apr. 1962 – Kosmos 4, 1st Soviet (military) remote sensing satellite. | Aug. 1964 – Nimbus 1, 1st weather research satellite.
Nov. 1965 – GEOS-A, 1st geodesy satellite. Feb. 1966 – ESSA-1, 1st operational weather satellite. |
Feb. 1966 - Diapason, 1st French geodesy satellite. | |
| 1967-1971 | |||
| Feb. 1967 – Kosmos 144, 1st Soviet weather satellite. |
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| 1972-1976 | |||
| Sep. 1975 - Kosmos 771, 1st Soviet Earth ressources satellite. |
Jul. 1972 – Landsat 1, 1st civilian Earth observation satellite. May 1974 – SMS-1, 1st geostationary weather satellite. |
Feb. 1975 – Starlette, French laser retroreflector satellite.
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| 1977-1981 | |||
| Jun. 1978 – Seasat, 1st oceanography satellite. Feb. 1979 – SAGE, 1st satellite dedicated to atmospheric pollution. |
Nov. 1977 – Meteosat 1, Europe's 1st geostationary weather satellite.
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Jul. 1977 – GMS-1, Japan's 1st geostationary weather satellite. Jun. 1979 – Bhaskara 1, India's 1st remote sensing satellite. |
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| 1982-1986 | |||
| Jul. 1982 – Spot Image, 1st space imaging company.
Feb. 1986 – Spot 1, 1st French remote sensing satellite. |
Apr. 1982 – Insat 1A, India's 1st geostationary weather satellite. | ||
| 1987-1991 | |||
| Jul. 1987 – Kosmos 1870, 1st Soviet radar remote sensing satellite.
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Sep. 1991 – UARS, 1st large satellite dedicated to atmospheric studies. | Jul. 1991 – ERS-1, ESA’s 1st radar remote sensing satellite. | Feb. 1987 – MOS-1a, Japan's 1st Earth observation satellite.
Sep. 1988 – Ofeq 1, Israel’s 1st remote sensing satellite. Sep. 1988 – Feng Yun 1A, China's 1st weather satellite. |
| 1992-1996 | |||
| Oct. 1994 – Elektro 1, 1st Russian geostationary weather satellite.
Aug. 1995 – Sich 1, Ukraine's 1st oceanography satellite. |
Jul. 1996 – TOMS-EP, 1st satellite dedicated to ozone monitoring. | Aug. 1992 – Topex-Poseidon, joint U.S.-French oceanography satellite.
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Nov. 1995 – Radarsat 1, Canada's 1st radar remote sensing satellite. |
| 1997-2001 | |||
| Sep. 1999 – Ikonos 1, 1st commercial remote sensing satellite. | Jun. 1997 – Feng Yun 2A, China's 1st geostationary weather satellite.
May 1999 – Oceansat 1, India's 1st oceanography satellite. Oct. 1999 – CBERS-1, 1st joint Chinese/Brazilian remote sensing satellite. Dec. 1999 – Arirang 1, South Korea's 1st Earth observation satellite. |
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| 2001-2006 | |||
| Oct. 2001 – Proba 1, ESA’s small remote sensing demonstrator satellite.
Dec. 2001 – Jason 1, joint U.S.-French oceanography satellite. Mar. 2002 – Envisat, ESA’s large environmental satellite. Aug. 2002 – MSG-1, Europe's 2nd generation geostationary weather satellite. Apr. 2006 – Calipso, joint U.S.-French atmospheric satellite. Oct. 2006 – MetOp 1, Europe's 1st Sun-synchronous weather satellite |
May 2002 – Hai Yang 1A, China's 1st oceanography satellite.
May 2004 – RoCSat 2, Taiwan's 1st remote sensing satellite. Apr. 2006 – Yaogan 1, China's 1st radar remote sensing satellite. |
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| 2007 | |||
| June 2007 – Cosmo-SkyMed 1, Italian radar remote sensing satellite.
June 2007 – TerraSAR-X, German radar remote sensing satellite. |
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