NASA's Earth Venture Suborbital program is an exciting initiative that aims to deliver science with high impact and agility. The program's newest class of missions is gearing up to explore a range of environmental phenomena, from landslides in Alaska to air quality in Atlanta, and fire clouds out West. These missions will mobilize hundreds of scientists and pilots from NASA, the U.S. Navy, universities, and other institutions over the next several years.
One of the most intriguing missions is the Inject Smoke and PYRocumulonimbus Experiment (INSPYRE), led by the Naval Research Laboratory. The team will chase fire clouds, which are towering storms generated by extreme wildfires. These storms can create blind spots for aviators and spark new blazes below. Measuring and mapping these dangerous storms in real-time will help scientists forecast them in the future. The mission will use a suite of instruments, including two state-of-the-art infrared wildfire trackers developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
Another fascinating mission is the FarmFlux project, which will deploy more than a dozen sensors to measure pollutants rising from agricultural lands and animal farms. These emissions affect human health, global climate, and stratospheric ozone. The mission is led by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and Colorado State University, and Boston University.
The Hemispheric Airborne Measurements of Air Quality (HAMAQ) mission will investigate areas of poor air in Atlanta and Mexico City, testing how satellite information can help forecasting and mitigation efforts. The mission will use two aircraft at different altitudes to measure fine particle and gaseous pollutants.
The Snow4Flow campaign will measure and model how glaciers are retreating in the far north. The team will use a modernized WWII-era aircraft outfitted with a scanning laser altimeter and two custom radars to sound the near-surface and frozen depths of hundreds of glaciers. The observations will be combined with satellite data and advanced models of snowfall and glacier flow.
The Frontlines of Rapidly Transforming Ecosystems (FORTE) project will study how rivers, lagoons, and estuaries across Alaska's North Slope interact with the Arctic Ocean. The project will combine optical and radar measurements from satellites, planes, high-tech research vessels, drones, and underwater autonomous systems to track microscopic marine life, water flow, and chemistry. The team will collaborate with local and tribal communities to sustain observations over time.
The LandslideChange CharacterizationExperiment (LACCE) project will combine airborne synthetic aperture radar with land-based sensors to track how slopes in California are responding to a world of intensifying droughts and downpours. The project also takes aim at emerging landslide hazards in Alaska, where rapidly retreating glaciers are accelerating slope movements that have the potential to create mega-tsunamis.
NASA's Earth Venture Suborbital program was established following a recommendation by the National Research Council in 2007. In the decades since, teams have studied phenomena, including blizzards, coral reefs, and ocean whirlpools. These missions are an exciting step forward in our understanding of the Earth's complex systems and the impact of human activity on our planet.
