Wed 29 September 2021:
According to The Daily Mail, NASA has launched a satellite the size of a small box, as well as a new Earth-observing spacecraft, to monitor the changing state of our planet.
The $4 million satellite, which is about the size of a “family-sized box of cereal,” has launched into space to research the physics of exoplanets like “hot Jupiter.” The mission, dubbed Colorado, is a cube satellite (CubeSat) that will spend seven months studying these extreme worlds.
It is the first CubeSat mission funded by NASA to look at exoplanets and give the space agency a better idea of what is possible with the small satellite technology.
NASA’s latest Landsat Earth-observing satellite also finally launched, going up on the same rocket, after a month of delays caused by a shortage of liquid nitrogen. Both satellites launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Lompoc, California on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, on September 27 at 14:11 EDT (19:11 BST).
The Landsat 9 satellite is NASA’s most powerful Earth observation satellite launched to date and continues a 50-year legacy. Operated by NASA and the US Geological Survey, it will continue to catalog changes on the planet – both from human activity and natural processes.
“We’ve assembled an amazing history of how the planet has changed over the last half century. For example, we’re able to see the natural disturbances that occur, such as fires, hurricanes, and insect outbreaks,” said Dr. Jeff Masek, NASA’s Landsat-9 project scientist.
The most recent edition will focus on the effects of climate and climate change on ecosystems, which could inform policy and conservation efforts.
_____________________________________________________________________________
FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:
TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent
FACEBOOK (CLICK HERE)
https://web.facebook.com/ipindependent
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
