DENVER - Ball Aerospace in Boulder $ billion-project launched Friday from Vandenberg Air Force base in California. The next generation of weather satellites begins his journey of five years of Earth observation from space.
The satellite has a long name: polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project National. NPP includes five on-board instruments that collect more than 30 major long-term records. The recordings, which are ozone depletion and land cover on atmospheric temperature and ice coverage area of crucial importance for the understanding of Earth's climate and its changes over time.
Ball Aerospace designed and built the spacecraft bus, and since 2005 the team of scientists on board instruments goes through numerous tests to prepare for the extreme elements in space. NPP will fly at an altitude of 512 miles, round the world 14 times a day.
The satellite has a long name: polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project National. NPP includes five on-board instruments that collect more than 30 major long-term records. The recordings, which are ozone depletion and land cover on atmospheric temperature and ice coverage area of crucial importance for the understanding of Earth's climate and its changes over time.
Ball Aerospace designed and built the spacecraft bus, and since 2005 the team of scientists on board instruments goes through numerous tests to prepare for the extreme elements in space. NPP will fly at an altitude of 512 miles, round the world 14 times a day.
Scientists are excited about the new technologies that will be available after significant weather events of 2011. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. $ 10 billion disaster was only this year.
"The timing of this launch nuclear power plant could not be better," said Dr. Louis W. Uccellini, director of NOAA's National Center for Environmental Prediction. "With nuclear power, we expect to improve and expand our ability to forecast, at 5-7 days in advance for hurricanes and other extreme weather events. We expect that the highly sophisticated tools for the NPP to a foundation system for observation overall, the absolute need. "
NPP is built on a Delta II rocket to be launched in Centennial.
No comments:
Post a Comment