Orbview 2

Also called Seastar

---

General

Designation	24883 / 97037A
Launch date	1 Aug 1997
Country of origin	United States
Mission	Remote sensing
Perigee/Apogee	705 km (sun-synchronous)
Inclination	98.2°
Period	99 min (16 day cycle)
Launch vehicle	Pegasus

Carries NASA's SeaWiFS instrument as the sensor payload, also designated "Oceans Color Data Set." The objective for global ocean coverage is desired to estimate ocean color, and to derive from these measurements, various biological indicators and other useful scientific products.

The SeaWiFS Team has developed, and will operate, a data system that will process, calibrate, validate, archive, and distribute SeaWiFS data for research. All other aspects of the mission -- satellite construction, launch, command and control and tracking -- are the responsibility of OSC. NASA has contracted with OSC to provide, for five years, the raw satellite data which will be used for research purposes. This contract is worth $43.5 million. OSC will own the data rights for operational and commercial purposes.

---

External resources

http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEAWIFS.html

sat-index articles

Technical data

---

---

Specifications

Prime contractor	OSC
Platform	Pegastar
Mass at launch	309 kg
Mass in orbit
Dimension
Solar array
Stabilization
DC power
Design lifetime	10 years

Telemetry: 1702.5 MHz (665.4 kbps)
Command: 2092.59 MHz (19.2 kbps)
Data: 2272.5 MHz (2000 kbps)

---

SeaWiFS

Wavebands	412 nm (20 nm bandwidth) 443 nm (20 nm bandwidth) 490 nm (20 nm bandwidth) 510 nm (20 nm bandwidth) 555 nm (20 nm bandwidth) 670 nm (20 nm bandwidth) 765 nm (40 nm bandwidth) 865 nm (40 nm bandwidth)
Swath width
Resolution	1 km

Has a rotating scanning telescope to achieve a scan angle > 58.3°.

The SeaWiFS instrument was built by Hughes Electronics

---