EO-1

EO-1 (Earth Observing-1) was launched on November 21, 2000, as part of NASA's New Millennium Program to validate advanced Earth observation technologies in orbit. Its primary objectives were to test the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) and the Hyperion hyperspectral instrument as pathfinders for future satellite missions.

Hyperion was the first spaceborne hyperspectral imager, capable of capturing 220 spectral bands between 400 and 2,500 nanometers at 30-meter spatial resolution. It demonstrated the viability of hyperspectral imaging from orbit and directly influenced the design philosophy of subsequent hyperspectral mission concepts like NASA's planned Surface Biology and Geology investigation.

EO-1 far exceeded its planned one-year mission lifetime, operating for nearly 17 years until it was decommissioned in early 2017. The satellite also pioneered autonomous science operations through its Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment, which used onboard software to independently detect events like volcanic eruptions and trigger image acquisition without ground commands.

Yes, EO-1 Hyperion and ALI data are archived and freely available through the USGS EarthExplorer portal as part of NASA's Earth science data holdings. The Hyperion dataset, while now historical, continues to be used for calibration, algorithm development, and research by scientists working on hyperspectral remote sensing techniques.