In celebration of Earth Day, I’ve decided to point out four current space missions that are helping us save our planet right now.
EMIT
Currently onboard the International Space Station (ISS) is the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (nicknamed EMIT), which has been observing the Earth since July 2022. The spacecraft studies dust particles which are lifted into our atmosphere by strong winds and can block out sunlight. EMIT is designed to observe these events and scientists on Earth to study the data it sends back in greater detail.
Landsat 9
Launched in September 2021, Landsat 9 takes a look at many different environmental problems such as deforestation, urban expansion, climate change, water pollution, and natural and man-made disasters. Using the information that the probe sends back NASA can alert other government agencies that deal with these growing problems.
ICESat-2
For the past several years ICESat-2 has been observing the melting ice sheets in the polar regions of Earth. The spacecraft scans the surface of the ocean and using laser technology can measure the thickness of ice from orbit.
SMAP
Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) has been helping collect a “‘snapshot' of soil moisture every 2 to 3 days,” since 2015. It helps predict areas that may be at risk of droughts and floods. In addition, it also helps with other issues such as human health, forecasting, and agricultural productivity.
These aren’t all of the space missions, and more are working to help us save our planet. Hundreds of space missions are helping us all achieve this goal.
Sources:
USAToday
https://earth.jpl.nasa.gov/emit/
https://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/climate-history/