By Danya Gainor
(CNN] — Space technology has been used for a long time to help. Forecast weather, Spot wildfiresScientists’ understanding of Climate crisis. Scientists believe that this next-generation German satellite could be a game-changer because it can use more colors than any other satellite to provide the most accurate data ever recorded on water, soil, or vegetation.
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.
CNN was told by scientists that EnMAP will provide images of such high resolution that scientists will now be able to study the environment in a way previously unimaginable for space-based observing systems. The satellite is extremely sophisticated and was created to study the The climate crisis’ environmental impactMonitor the management of the environment and observe how it responds to human activities. The world’s natural resources.
“There have already been wonderful moments, and i can’t wait until I see the data…there are so many possible implications,” Sebastian Fischer, EnMAP Mission manager, told CNN a week later after EnMAP was successfully launched April 1.
A recent series based on research by hundreds scientists around the globe, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has released a series of reports. Earth is warming faster Scientists have never believed that we are more than we thought. Finding it hard to adaptBut that is not all. Already have the solutions at our fingertips.
CNN’s Anke Schickling, who oversees EnMAP’s Exploitation and Science Program, said that EnMAP’s data will allow scientists to track and examine environmental changes, natural or manmade, and could help develop the next generation long-term climate forecast models.
Manja Schle, the Brandenburg’s Minister for Research, stated that “we will receive even greater reliable information about man-made modifications and damage to our ecosystems,” in the future. “These are the best preconditions for developing innovative strategies to adapt to climate changes.
Eight days after its launch, the satellite reached its destination in Earth orbit on April 9, eight days later. Launched from Cape Canaveral in FloridaOn a SpaceX Falcon9 rocket. Now scientists are waiting to receive its data.
Schickling stated, “Everyone is really excited just to get the data to understand if the algorithms and the ideas they have for what they want with it can really hold up against what they’ve been planning for over the past couple years.”
Researchers can identify plants and soil from a distance by understanding how light interacts to different materials such as water, soil, and plants. The satellite’s technology uses almost 250 different colors to pinpoint the characteristics of the land and water it observes.
The satellite’s spectrometers capture the first photo of the Earth’s surface. Instead of assigning a single color to the entire photo, the satellite separates the photo into pixel-level images and assigns the appropriate color to each one. This allows historical precision.
Schickling stated that each element observed by the satellite is unique.
Each material on the surface of the planet reflects sunlight differently. A spectral signature describes the relationship between how something reflects sunlight and the color it is assigned to it. These spectral signatures serve as unique identifiers for 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 is contributing to European space technology and to a healthy planet.”
The satellite is designed for space weather conditions for at most five years. However, scientists believe EnMAP could last longer to ensure optimal data collection. The EnMAP satellite is not the first of its type, but there are already several successor missions.
NASA’s Surface Biology and Geology study is one example. It aims to collect data by end of decade to “address terrestrial and marine ecosystems and any other elements of biodiversity and geology, the water cycle and related sciences topics relevant for many societal benefit areas,” according NASA. Website of the program.
The European Space Agency also contributes to hyperspectral data. Satellite CHIME. CHIME will “support EU- and related policies in the management of natural resource, assets, and benefits,” but there is no launch date.
The-CNN-Wire
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