SAC-D also known as Aquarius after its primary instrument, is an Argentine

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 Earth science satellite

Satellite

In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....

 built by INVAP

INVAP

INVAP S.E. is an Argentine high-technology company dedicated to the design, integration, construction and delivery of high complexity equipment, plants and devices.-Background:...

 and launched on June 10, 2011. It carries seven instruments to study the environment

Environment (biophysical)

The biophysical environment is the combined modeling of the physical environment and the biological life forms within the environment, and includes all variables, parameters as well as conditions and modes inside the Earth's biosphere. The biophysical environment can be divided into two categories:...

, and a technology demonstration experiment. Its primary instrument, Aquarius, was built by and will be operated by the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

. SAC-D will be operated by CONAE

Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales

Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales is the civilian agency of the government of Argentina in charge of the national space program.- History :...

, the Argentine space agency. The satellite is expected to operate for five years; however the Aquarius instrument is only expected to operate for three.

Launch

SAC-D was launched on June 10, 2011. A Delta II

Delta II

Delta II was an American space launch system, originally designed and built by McDonnell Douglas. Delta II is part of the Delta rocket family and was in service from 1989 until November 1, 2011...

 7320-10 was used as the launch vehicle, taking off from Space Launch Complex 2W

Vandenberg AFB Space Launch Complex 2

Space Launch Complex 2 is an active rocket launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base, in California, USA. It consists of two launch pads. The East pad , which has been demolished, was used for Delta, Thor-Agena and Thorad launches between 1966 and 1972...

 at Vandenberg Air Force Base

Vandenberg Air Force Base

Vandenberg Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base, located approximately northwest of Lompoc, California. It is under the jurisdiction of the 30th Space Wing, Air Force Space Command ....

. NASA was responsible for providing launch services, which will be subcontracted to United Launch Alliance

United Launch Alliance

United Launch Alliance is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing. ULA was formed in December 2006 by combining the teams at these companies which provide spacecraft launch services to the government of the United States. U.S...

. The launch was delayed from May 2010 because development of the spacecraft was taking longer than expected.

Instruments

Name	Operator	Purpose
Aquarius	NASA NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...	Ocean salinity Salinity Salinity is the saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water. It is a general term used to describe the levels of different salts such as sodium chloride, magnesium and calcium sulfates, and bicarbonates...  research
CARMEN I	CNES CNES The is the French government space agency . Established under President Charles de Gaulle in 1961, its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is under the supervision of the French Ministries of Defence and Research...	Two experiments: SODAD will study particles and debris in space, ICARE will study cosmic radiation and its effects on electronics
DCS		Collection of data provided by platforms on Earth. Compatible with Argos System Argos System Argos is a satellite-based system which collects, processes and disseminates environmental data from fixed and mobile platforms worldwide. What makes Argos unique is the ability to geographically locate the source of the data anywhere on the Earth utilizing the Doppler effect...
HSC	CONAE	Imaging of aurorae Aurora (astronomy) An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere... , fires, and lights
MWR	CONAE	Radiometry Radiometry In optics, radiometry is a set of techniques for measuring electromagnetic radiation, including visible light. Radiometric techniques characterize the distribution of the radiation's power in space, as opposed to photometric techniques, which characterize the light's interaction with the human eye...
NIRST	CONAE   CSA	Infrared Infrared Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...  imagery, determination of sea temperatures
ROSA	ASI Italian Space Agency The Italian Space Agency is a government agency established in 1988 to fund, regulate and coordinate space exploration activities in Italy...	Measurement of temperature and humidity in the atmosphere
TDP	CONAE	Technology demonstration involving GPS Global Positioning System The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...  navigation and inertial guidance

External links

• NASA Aquarius Page
• SAC-D current position