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The Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) can measure things that are otherwise invisible, such as the level of pollution in a river or forest, and the amount of nutrients within a plant.
“There have been some great moments and I can’t get enough data. There are so many possible implications,” Sebastian Fischer, EnMAP Mission manager, told CNN a week following the launch of EnMAP on April 1.
EnMAP’s data will help scientists track and examine environmental changes in realtime — whether they are natural or manmade — and potentially help to develop the next generation of longterm climate forecast models, Anke Schickling, who oversees the EnMAP mission’s Exploitation and Science Program, told CNN.
“We will receive even more reliable information about man-made changes and damage to our ecosystems in the future,” said the state of Brandenburg’s Minister of Research, Manja Schüle. These are the best prerequisites to develop innovative measures to adapt climate change.
Schickling said that everyone is eager to get the data. He also stated that they are confident that their algorithms and ideas can be used to make the data work for them.
Understanding how light interacts with different materials — like plants, water or soil — makes it easier for researchers identify them and define their characteristics from a distance. The satellite’s technology uses almost 250 colors to identify the characteristics of the land and water it observes.
The satellite’s spectrometers capture the first photo of the Earth below. Instead of assigning the entire image one color to categorize, the satellite breaks down each pixel and assigns it the most appropriate color on its spectrum. This allows historical precision.
“Each element the satellite observes is like a fingerprint — one of a kind,” Schickling said.
Every material on the planet’s surface reflects sunlight in a different way. A spectral signature is the relationship between the way something reflects light and the assigned color to it. These spectral signatures can be used as unique identifiers in EnMAP.
“Without Earth observation by space, it would not be possible to quantify the global impact of the climate crisis and its effects,” Anna Christmann, Federal Government Commissioner for Aerospace, says. “Germany makes a significant contribution to European space technology as well as to preserving the planet.”
Although the satellite is designed to withstand space’s harsh conditions for at least five year, scientists hope EnMAP will last longer to ensure optimal data collection. Even though EnMAP is the first satellite of its kind, there are already other missions in the works.
