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[Music]

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[Josh Fisher] We're
interested in our ability

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to sustain
food production.

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We're interested in our
ecosystem health,

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and that's all
tied to water.

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How much water our plants, our
crops need, we want to know,

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and as water resources become
more uncertain, more variable,

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we need to really track
that really precisely.

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We can't just guess anymore.

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[Simon Hook] So, ECOSTRESS
is going to measure

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the surface temperature

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and then we're
going to use that surface

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temperature to be able to

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determine how much
water the plants

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that we're looking
at are using.

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[Kerry Cawse-Nicolson]
We'd like to show

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how we can use
ECOSTRESS data

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to optimize
agricultural water use.

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["ECOSTRESS"]

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[Hook] ECOSTRESS is an
instrument that's going to go

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on the International
Space Station.

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It stands for the
Ecosystem Spaceborne

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Thermal Radiometer
Experiment on Space Station.

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If focuses on how on how much
water plants use

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all over the planet, and how
much water plants need,

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and if there is stress, water
stress or heat stress,

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that plants are facing.

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[Hook] We can measure the
surface temperature of the Earth

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within a few tenths
of a degree,

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and then we can use
that information

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to look at objects on the
surface of the Earth.

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In this particular case,

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we're interested in
looking at plants.

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Plants, as they start
to suffer from

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heat or water stress, they begin
to heat up in a similar way

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to a human with a fever.

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We can pick up that stress

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before the plant is
visibly affected.

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There's this window where
water resource management

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and agricultural users can
actually allocate more water

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before they die, before the
damage is irreparable.

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[Hook] The Space
Station is going

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to fly over at
different times

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to be able to look
at how the stress

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is changing
through the day,

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and allow us to characterize
vegetation in ways

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that we've never been
able to characterize it before.

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The instrument itself
is looking down

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at the surface of the Earth and
uses a mirror that rotates

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to scan across the surface.

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This measurement's
being made in micro seconds,

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but it's enough time
for us to measure

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the energy that's
coming off it,

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and then translate that energy
into a temperature.

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[Fisher] The temperature
measurements from ECOSTRESS

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can detect volcanoes, we can
detect urban heat from cities.

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[Hook] So, although
we're focused

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primarily on looking at plants

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and making sure that we can
maximize the amount of food

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that we can get back for the
water that we use,

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the mission can be used
for many other purposes.

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What hasn't been
possible in the past

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is to make the
measurements as frequently

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as we need to make them
with sufficient detail,

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and it's that combination
that is so important.

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And really, that's
just a reflection

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of the improvements
in technology.

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Our ability to sustain
livelihoods, food production,

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ecosystems, and the
health of the planet