NASA's High-Resolution Air Quality Control Instrument Launches (nasa.gov) 6
A NASA instrument to provide unprecedented resolution of monitoring major air pollutants -- down to four square miles -- lifted off on its way to geostationary orbit at 12:30 a.m. EDT Friday. The Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) instrument will improve life on Earth by revolutionizing the way scientists observe air quality from space. From a report: "The TEMPO mission is about more than just studying pollution -- it's about improving life on Earth for all. By monitoring the effects of everything from rush-hour traffic to pollution from forest fires and volcanoes, NASA data will help improve air quality across North America and protect our planet," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. [...] From a fixed geostationary orbit above the equator, TEMPO will be the first space-based instrument to measure air quality over North America hourly during the daytime and at spatial regions of several square miles -- far better than existing limits of about 100 square miles in the U.S. TEMPO data will play an important role in the scientific analysis of pollution, including studies of rush hour pollution, the potential for improved air quality alerts, the effects of lightning on ozone, the movement of pollution from forest fires and volcanoes, and even the effects of fertilizer application.
TEMPO's observations will dramatically improve the scientific data record on air pollution -- including ozone, nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and formaldehyde -- not only over the continental United States, but also Canada, Mexico, Cuba, the Bahamas, and part of the island of Hispaniola. "Our TEMPO slogan is 'It's about time,' which hints at TEMPO's ability to provide hourly air pollution data," said Xiong Liu, deputy principal investigator for TEMPO at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "After working on the TEMPO for more than 10 years, it is about time to launch TEMPO to produce real TEMPO data and start the new era of air quality monitoring over North America."
TEMPO's observations will dramatically improve the scientific data record on air pollution -- including ozone, nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and formaldehyde -- not only over the continental United States, but also Canada, Mexico, Cuba, the Bahamas, and part of the island of Hispaniola. "Our TEMPO slogan is 'It's about time,' which hints at TEMPO's ability to provide hourly air pollution data," said Xiong Liu, deputy principal investigator for TEMPO at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "After working on the TEMPO for more than 10 years, it is about time to launch TEMPO to produce real TEMPO data and start the new era of air quality monitoring over North America."
Cool. Fantastic. Amazing. (Score:4, Insightful)
Now we can see in high definition the problem we already know is a problem but seemingly refuse to do anything about.
It's like getting new prescription eyeglasses to better see the oncoming train you refuse to step out of the way for...
=Smidge=
Re: (Score:2)
NO. NASA = National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NOAA and EPA should outsource space to NASA. We don't need to recreate another dept of space tech inside other agencies like we do recreating bloat in the military branches.
Re: Why NASA? (Score:2)
NASA has long studied Earth's atmosphere, and no part of their mandate says they shouldn't study Earth. Their total budget is $25.4 billion, their Earth sciences budget is 10% of total ($2.2 billion). In total TEMPO will cost $210 million, or 10% of this year's Earth sciences budget, 1% of NASA's FY2023 budget.
As an atmospheric scientist I've been waiting for today for a long time. TEMPO will provide boatloads of new data at spatial resolutions we've never had from a satellite.
A new type of measurement for atmos is good (Score:1)