The Terra flight operations team will be conducting Constellation Exit Maneuvers (CEM) to lower the Terra satellite to an altitude of 694 km by performing two retrograde maneuvers on October 12 and 19, 2022. To prepare for the maneuvers, data acquisitions will cease on October 10, 2022. Following the last maneuver on October 19, 2022, all Terra instruments will be returned to their nominal states. The data outage for October 10-19, 2022, applies to all Terra Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data products distributed by NASA's Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC). Users should exercise caution while using Terra data acquired October 19-21, 2022, as all sensors will still be recovering from the Earth Sciences Constellation exit. Post-CEM calibrations will be performed over the following weeks and calibration table updates will occur as needed.
Please note that the CEM does not indicate the end of life for the Terra mission. Terra is expected to remain operational and LP DAAC will continue to distribute MODIS and ASTER data through the next several years of orbital drift. There may be some limited impact on the science data because of the changing mean local time (MLT) and the lowering of orbital altitude from 705 km to 694 km but overall, it is not expected to have any major impact on the science data quality.
Additional Resources
- Learn more about Terra’s orbital drift: Terra Orbital Drift Information
- View Terra orbit drift visualization: Terra Orbit Drift Visualization
- Read about Terra’s eventual decommissioning: From Terra to Terra Firma
Contact LP DAAC User Services with any questions.