The Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) operates four satellite tracking and communications antennas that are part of the NASA Near Space Network (NSN)
ASF is a key ground support facility in NASA’s satellite-based Earth Observation Network. ASF also operates an antenna that is a part of the Viasat Real Time Earth satellite-to-ground global communications network.
The NASA ground station serves as a critical hub for acquiring data from Earth-observing satellites equipped with a variety of remote-sensing instruments, including synthetic aperture radar (SAR). The location of the facility at UAF in Fairbanks was strategically chosen by NASA for its reliable power and communications, and for its high-latitude location, offering frequent contact with polar-orbiting satellites passing overhead.
The ground station
ASF provides 24-hour-a-day infrastructure support and operational expertise, which enables the reliable acquisition of satellite remote-sensing data. This, in turn, allows researchers, government agencies, and other customers access to these data for a wide range of applications, and contributes to a better understanding of Earth’s natural processes.
Explore the 360º view below of the actual control room by using your mouse, arrow keys, or a touch screen.
AS3 NASA antenna surrounded by the golden colors of birch tree fall foliage.
Illustration of the trajectory of a polar orbiting satellite.
Satellite Acquisition Schedule - "airline display"
Recorded February 8th and 9th, 2025
This video represents a monitor that shows the daily satellite passes over Interior Alaska that are tracked and from which Earth observation data are currently acquired by the ASF Ground Station. Antennas AS1-AS3 are located on the UAF campus west of the museum, while AS4 is at the Richardson Site in south Fairbanks. ASF tracks and acquires data 24 /7
Satellites tracked
| Term or Acronym | Description |
|---|---|
| AQA | Aqua is a NASA Earth Science satellite mission collecting information about the Earth’s water cycle, including evaporation from the oceans, water vapor in the atmosphere, clouds, precipitation, soil moisture, sea ice, land ice, and snow cover on the land and ice. Aqua was launched on May 4, 2002. |
| AUR | Aura is designed to answer questions about changes in Earth’s atmosphere. Aura’s four instruments study atmospheric chemistry and dynamics, enabling us to investigate questions about ozone trends, air quality changes, and their links to climate change. The Aura spacecraft was launched on July 15, 2004. |
| IC2 | The Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, measures the height of a changing Earth, one laser pulse at a time, and 10,000 laser pulses a second. Launched September 15, 2018, ICESat-2 carries this photon-counting laser altimeter to allow scientists to measure the elevation of ice sheets, glaciers, sea ice, and more. |
| PAC | The Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) spacecraft is helping us better understand how the ocean and atmosphere exchange carbon dioxide, as well as revealing how aerosols might fuel phytoplankton growth in the surface ocean. PACE launched on February 8, 2024. |
| SMP | The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission is an orbiting observatory that measures the amount of water in the surface soil everywhere on Earth. It was launched in January 2015 and started operation in April 2015. |
| Orbit | Each satellite completes about 14 orbits per day. Aqua’s 121,000+ orbits, for example, equates to more than 23 years of operation, tracking, and data acquisition. |
| AOS | Acquisition of Signal (UTC) |
| LOS | Loss of Signal (UTC) |
