A cryospheric focal point for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise. NASA's Aqua Satellite Launched NASA's Aqua satellite successfully launched on 4 May 2002. The Aqua mission will collect information about the Earth's water cycle. Sea ice and snow albedo data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument will be available from NSIDC in late summer 2002. NSIDC will also ...