Environmental-observing satellites

Below are checklists of environmental-observing satellites, launch dates, and images of the satellites. This is a work in progress, and completeness is our goal. If readers know of additional information or images, please contact the authors using the e-mail addresses at the bottom of this page.

Satellite series covered on this page:

U.S. Landsat / Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Landsat-1 / ERTS-1 (ERTS-A)	1972-07-23	Landsat-1/2/3 Landsat-3	Landsat/ERTS	Landsat/ERTS
Landsat-2 / ERTS-2 (ERTS-B)	1975-01-22
Landsat-3 (Landsat-C / ERTS-C)	1978-03-05
Landsat-4 (Landsat-D)	1982-07-16	Landsat-4 Landsat-4/5
Landsat-5 (Landsat-D1)	1984-03-01
Landsat-6 [failed]	1993-10-05	Landsat-6 Landsat-6
Landsat-7	1999-04-15	Landsat-7 Landsat-7
Landsat	Unspecified	Landsat/ERTS Landsat/ERTS

French Satellite Probatoire de l'Observation de la Terre (SPOT) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
SPOT-1 (SPOT-A)	1986-02-22	SPOT-1 SPOT-1/2/3	SPOT	SPOT
SPOT-2 (SPOT-B)	1990-01-22
SPOT-3	1993-09-26
SPOT-4	1998-03-24	SPOT-4 SPOT-4
SPOT-5	2002-05-03

Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
IRS-1A	1988-03-17	IRS-1	IRS	IRS
IRS-1B	1991-08-29
IRS-1E / IRS-P1 [failed]	1993-09-20
IRS-P2	1994-10-15	IRS-P2
IRS-1C	1995-12-28	IRS-1C/D
IRS-P3	1996-03-21	IRS-P3
IRS-1D	1997-09-29	IRS-1C/D IRS-1D
IRS-P4 / Oceansat-1	1999-05-26	IRS-P4
IRS-P6 / ResourceSat-1	2003-10-17	IRS-P6
IRS-P5 / CartoSat-1	2005-05-05	IRS-P5
IRS-2 / CartoSat-2	2007-10-01	CartoSat-2
IRS-2A / CartoSat-2A	2008-04-28
IRS-P7 / Oceansat-2	200?
IRS	Unspecified	IRS

European Remote Sensing (ERS) satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
ERS-1	1991-07-17	ERS-1 ERS-1	ERS	ERS
ERS-2	1995-04-20
ERS	Unspecified	ERS ERS ERS

Japanese Marine Observation Satellite (MOS) / Momo series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
MOS-1A / Momo-1	1987-02-19	MOS-1	MOS	MOS
MOS-1B / Momo-1B	1990-02-07
MOS / Momo	Unspecified	MOS MOS

Japanese ADvanced Earth Observing Satellite (ADEOS) / Midori series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
ADEOS-1 / Midori	1996-08-17		ADEOS	ADEOS
ADEOS-2	2002-12-14
ADEOS	Unspecified	ADEOS ADEOS ADEOS ADEOS ADEOS

U.S. Earth Observation System (EOS) satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
EOS-1 / EOS-AM1 / Terra	1999-12-18	EOS-Terra	EOS	EOS
EOS-PM1 / Aqua	2002-05-04	EOS-Aqua EOS-Aqua
EOS / Aura	2004-07-15	EOS-Aura

China (PRC) Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS) / ZY-1 series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
ZY-1A / CBERS-1	1999-10-14	ZY-1 ZY-1 (CBERS)	ZY-1/CBERS	ZY-1/CBERS
ZY-1B / CBERS-2	2003-10-21
ZY-1B2 / CBERS-2B	2007-09-19
ZY-1C / CBERS-31	2008-05-27	ZY-1C

¹Launch of ZY-1C / CBERS-3 not confirmed!

China (PRC) Resource (CR) satellite / ZY-2 series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
China Resource-1 / ZY-2A	2000-09-01	ZY-2	ZY-1/China Resource	ZY-1/China Resource
China Resource-2 / ZY-2B	2002-10-27
China Resource-3 / ZY-2C	2004-11-06

China (PRC) Haiyang (HY) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
HY-1 / Ocean-1	2002-05-16	HY-1	FY-1D+HY-1
HY-1B / Ocean-1B	2007-04-11		HY-1B HY-1B HY-1B

Republic of China (Taiwan) SATellite (Rocsat) / FORMOsa SATellite (Formosat) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Rocsat-1 / Formosat-1	1999-01-27	Rocsat-1
Rocsat-2 / Formosat-2	2004-05-20	Rocsat-2	Rocsat-2 Rocsat-2
Rocsat-3 / Formosat-3 / COSMIC	2006-04-14	Rocsat-3

Israeli Earth Resources Observation Satellite (EROS) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
EROS-A / Ofeq-4 [failed]	1998-01-23		EROS	EROS
EROS-1	2000-12-05	EROS-1
EROS-2	2006-04-25
EROS-C	2007-?	EROS-C

Argentine Satellite de Aplicaciones Cientifico (SAC) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
SAC-A [STS/Endeavour-launched]	1998-12-04	SAC-A	SAC	SAC
SAC-B	1996-11-04	SAC-B
SAC-C	2000-11-21	SAC-C SAC-C

Canadian RADAR SATellite (Radarsat) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Radarsat-1	1995-11-04	Radarsat-1 Radarsat-1 Radarsat-1 Radarsat-1	Radarsat	Radarsat
Radarsat-2	2007-12-14	Radarsat-2

KOrean Multi-Purpose SATellite (Kompsat) / Arirang series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Kompsat-1 / Arirang-1	1999-12-21	Kompsat-1	Kompsat	Kompsat
Kompsat-2 / Arirang-2	2006-07-28	Kompsat-2

Jason / Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Jason-1	2001-12-07	Jason-1	Jason-1+TIMED Jason-1+TIMED	Jason
Jason-2 / OSTM	2008-06-20	Jason-2	Jason-2 Jason-2 Jason-2 Jason-2 Jason-2

Other (selected) U.S. environmental-observing satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
SeaSat-1 (SeaSat-A)	1978-06-27	SeaSat SeaSat	SeaSat-1 SeaSat-1 SeaSat-1
ERBS / SAGE-2 [STS/Challenger-launched]	1984-10-05	ERBS ERBS ERBS	ERBS	ERBS
Geosat-1	1985-03-13
UARS [STS/Discovery-launched]	1991-09-12	UARS UARS UARS	UARS	UARS
TOPEX-Poseidon	1992-08-10	TOPEX-Poseidon TOPEX-Poseidon TOPEX-Poseidon TOPEX-Poseidon TOPEX-Poseidon TOPEX-Poseidon (early design)	TOPEX-Poseidon	TOPEX-Poseidon
TOMS-EP / SMEX	1996-07-02	TOMS
TRMM	1997-11-28	TRMM TRMM TRMM TRMM	ETS-7+TRMM
GFO	1998-02-10	GFO
QuikScat	1999-06-20	QuikScat QuikScat	QuikScat QuikScat QuikScat
MTI	2000-03-12	MTI
EO-1 / NMP	2000-11-21	EO-1 EO-1	EO-1+SAC-C+Munin
QuikTOMS [failed]	2001-09-21	QuikTOMS	OrbView-4+QuikTOMS
CloudSat	2006-04-28	CloudSat CloudSat	CloudSat	CloudSat
OCO [failed]	2009-02-24	OCO	OCO	OCO
Glory	2010-?	Glory	Glory	Glory

Other (selected) non-U.S. environmental-observing satellites:

Satellite	Country	Launch Date	Images
			reference	launch covers	postal items
JERS-1 / Fuyo-1	Japan	1992-02-11	JERS-1	JERS	JERS
Envisat	ESA	2002-03-01	Envisat Envisat Envisat-1 Envisat-1	Envisat	Envisat
Alsat-1	Algeria / Russia	2002-11-28	Alsat-1	Alsat	Alsat
SY-1 / TS-1	China (PRC)	2004-04-18	SY-1	SY-1
SY-2 / TS-2	China (PRC)	2004-11-18	SY-1	SY-2 SY-2 (back)
PARASOL	France	2004-12-18	PARASOL	PARASOL	PARASOL
ALOS / Daichi	Japan	2006-01-24	ALOS
CALIPSO	France	2006-04-28	CALIPSO	CALIPSO	CALIPSO
RSS-1 / Yaogan-1	China (PRC)	2006-04-27	RSS
BelKa [failed]	Russia	2006-11-26	BelKa	BelKa BelKa
EgyptSat-1	Egypt	2007-04-17	EgyptSat-1	EgyptSat-1 EgyptSat-1
TerraSAR-X	Germany	2007-06-15	TerraSAR-X	TerraSAR-X TerraSAR-X TerraSAR-X TerraSAR-X
HJ-1A, HJ-1B	China (PRC)	2008-09-06	HJ-1A	HJ-1A+1B
RapidEye-1 (Tachys), RapidEye-2 (Mati), RapidEye-3 (Choma), RapidEye-4 (Choros), RapidEye-5 (Trochia)	Germany	2008-08-29	RapidEye	RapidEye
SY-3 / TS-3	China (PRC)	2008-11-05	SY-1

U.S. commercial environmental-observing satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
EarlyBird-1 [failed]	1997-12-24	EarlyBird
Ikonos-1 [failed]	1999-04-27	Ikonos
Ikonos-2	1999-09-24
QuickBird-1 [failed]	2000-11-20		QuickBird	QuickBird
QuickBird-2	2001-10-18	QuickBird-2
OrbView-1	1995-04-03	OrbView-1
OrbView-2 / SeaStar / SeaWiFS	1997-08-01	OrbView-2 SeaStar	SeaWiFS	SeaWiFS
OrbView-3	2003-06-26	OrbView-3	OrbView-3 OrbView-3
OrbView-4 [failed]	2001-09-21	OrbView-4	OrbView-4+QuikTOMS
OrbView-5 / GeoEye	2008-09-06	GeoEye-1
WorldView-1	2007-09-18	WorldView-1
WorldView-2	2009-?	WorldView-2

Links to environmental-observing satellite information:

(The links below lead to information sources that are maintained by others. They are not part of this Website.)

• JPL library: Landsat program
• JPL library: European ERS program
• JPL library: Japanese MOS program
• JPL library: JERS program
• JPL library: ADEOS program
• Astronautix.com: Landsat program
• Astronautix.com: SPOT program
• Astronautix.com: IRS program

Back to Un-Manned Satellite Philately.