Related Articles
July 26, 2019 – Maxar Applied sciences of Westminster, Colorado, will present satellite tv for pc integration, launch and knowledge transmission providers for NASA’s Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Air pollution (TEMPO), an Earth science instrument that may observe air air pollution over North America in unprecedented element.
TEMPO is a UV-visible spectrometer that may observe Earth from a geostationary vantage level about 22,000 miles above Earth’s equator. TEMPO will make hourly measurements of atmospheric gases — together with ozone, nitrogen dioxide and formaldehyde in addition to aerosols — by measuring daylight mirrored and scattered from Earth’s floor and ambiance. The ensuing knowledge from TEMPO will likely be used to boost air high quality forecasts in North America, enabling more practical early public warning of air pollution incidents.
“Maxar has greater than half a century of expertise creating and
working satellites and superior infrastructure to unlock the promise
of area for patrons world wide. We have now a protracted historical past of
constructing meteorological spacecraft and devices, together with eight
Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite tv for pc Program (GOES)
satellites for NASA,” stated Megan Fitzgerald, Maxar’s Senior Vice
President and Normal Supervisor of House Options. “We’re proud to
collaborate with NASA on TEMPO, which is able to present crucial insights on
air air pollution to allow impactful options for a greater world.”
Maxar beforehand accomplished a examine to accommodate TEMPO on a industrial GEO satellite tv for pc. Constructing on the profitable completion of the examine, Maxar has been chosen to combine and fly the TEMPO payload. The instrument is presently slated for launch by 2022.
The contract with Maxar was awarded by the U.S. Air Drive House and Missile Techniques Heart by its Hosted Payload Options contract, a procurement mechanism that gives a pool of certified distributors that meet the federal government’s wants for numerous hosted payload area missions at a value financial savings to the federal government.
“Discovering the
proper industrial companion to combine our payload was of utmost
significance to us, and Maxar’s robust legacy in bridging industrial and
authorities wants made it the proper candidate. TEMPO will revolutionize
the best way NASA samples and analyzes crucial air high quality measurements,”
stated Kelly Likelihood, Principal Investigator, Smithsonian Astrophysical
Observatory. “Important companions within the analyses of TEMPO knowledge embrace
the U.S. Environmental Safety Company (EPA) and the Nationwide Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Nationwide Heart for
Atmospheric Analysis (NCAR), plus U.S. universities and international
companions, together with Mexico and Canada.”
Whereas ozone is a serious protector of life on Earth and filters out
dangerous ultraviolet radiation, it’s also a greenhouse fuel and air
pollutant. TEMPO’s new stream of knowledge will present near-real-time air
high quality merchandise that will likely be made publicly accessible and can assist
enhance air high quality forecasting. TEMPO may also allow researchers to
enhance air pollution emission inventories, monitor inhabitants publicity, and
consider efficient emission-control methods.
The TEMPO instrument mission is led by Principal Investigator Kelly Likelihood, from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The instrument was developed by Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado, and is in storage awaiting cargo to Maxar’s satellite tv for pc manufacturing facility in Palo Alto, California.
“With the TEMPO instrument absolutely spaceflight certified and safely
delivered, we’re enthusiastic about this necessary step and look ahead to
working carefully with Maxar for the profitable deployment of TEMPO,” stated
Stephen Corridor, TEMPO mission supervisor at NASA’s Langley Analysis Heart in Hampton, Virginia.
TEMPO will contribute to a worldwide air-quality monitoring
constellation that may embrace comparable satellites: the European House
Company’s Sentinel-Four, presently in improvement, and South Korea’s Geostationary Setting Monitoring Spectrometer, scheduled to launch in early 2020.
The instrument’s worldwide science workforce consists of companions in North America, Asia and Europe, and is led by Likelihood and Deputy Principal Investigator Xiong Liu,
additionally from SAO. Scientists with the Environmental Safety Company and
the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration play key roles in
the TEMPO science workforce.
In 2012, TEMPO grew to become the primary instrument to be awarded by NASA’s Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) Program within the Earth Enterprise Instrument Class Sequence. Earth Enterprise tasks deal with new scientific priorities utilizing superior instrumentation carried on airborne platforms, small satellites, or as hosted payloads on bigger platforms. The ESSP Program is positioned at NASA’s Langley Analysis Heart.
Source link
