More
Accurate Weather,
Space Research
NASA will flight-test
an instrument using new technologies to measure elements of Earth's
atmosphere and to support space research aimed at reducing risks
from severe weather. This measurement concept, known as the Geostationary
Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer, is the next Earth-observing
mission under NASA's New Millennium Program.
The mission—known
as "Earth Observing 3"—will test advanced technologies
for measuring temperature, water vapor, wind and chemical composition
with high resolution, in space and over time. Such sophisticated
measurements have the potential for revolutionary improvements in
weather observation and prediction, by providing unique observations
of the spectral properties of clouds and the transport of pollutants
in the atmosphere.
"In 2003,
this space flight demonstration will involve genuinely revolutionary
measurement approaches that will have a major impact on Earth system
science," said Dr. Ghassem Asrar, NASA Headquarters’ Associate
Administrator for Earth Science, Washington, DC. "The eventual
incorporation of this technology on geostationary weather satellites
would provide up-to-the-minute information, never before available,
on active severe weather systems, such as hurricanes and tornados.
"These
observations will help improve the accuracy of the current three-day
weather forecasts and extend the duration of forecasts up to five
days during the next decade," Asrar said.
Managed by
Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, the mission uses an
advanced imaging spectrometer based on breakthrough technologies
such as a large-area
focal-plane array, new data-readout and signal-processing electronics,
and passive thermal switching. Today's geostationary satellites
observe Earth, its atmosphere and oceans in only a few selected
spectral bands. This new instrument will improve observational capabilities
to several hundred spectral bands that will provide both additional
and more detailed information.
NASA Headquarters
selected this concept from an external peer review evaluation of
four finalist ideas culled from 24 proposals submitted in response
to a NASA research announcement released in September 1997. The
theme for the solicitation was testing innovative approaches for
observing Earth's surface and atmosphere from positions outside
low-Earth orbits, with an emphasis on advanced measurement concepts
and technologies.
The first Earth-orbiting
mission under the New Millennium Program, Earth Observing 1, is
scheduled for launch in spring of 2000. Managed by Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, that mission will demonstrate
an advanced land-imager system and hyperspectral imaging technologies
that may eventually replace the current measurement approach used
by Landsat satellites.
Created in
1994, the New Millennium Program is designed to identify, develop
and flight-validate advanced technologies that can lower costs and
enable critical performance of future science missions in the 21st
century. The program is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Pasadena, California.
For more information,
visit http://nmp.jpl.nasa.gov,
http://www.earth.nasa.gov,
or http://eo1.gsfc.nasa.gov
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