The five sensors aboard Terra are comprehensively measuring our world’s climate system—to observe and measure how Earth’s atmosphere, cryosphere, lands, oceans, and life all interact. Data from this mission are used in many research and commercial applications. Terra is a vital part of NASA’s Earth Science Enterprise, helping us understand and protect our home planet.

Terra circles around the Earth, very nearly from pole to pole, in an orbit that descends across the equator at 10:30 a.m. local time when cloud cover over land is minimal and its view of the surface is least obstructed. The satellite's orbit is roughly perpendicular to the direction of Earth's spin, so that the viewing swaths from each overpass can be compiled into whole global images. Over time, these global images will enable scientists to show and tell the stories of the causes and effects of global climate change.