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it's all about the earth and what we can

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learn about it from the international

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space station hi i'm nasa astronaut

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welcome back this month on station life

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we're going to highlight the

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international space station as a

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platform for observing the earth and

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take a behind the scenes look at what

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it's like to live and work on board the

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international space station

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they say a picture's worth a thousand

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words it's no surprise that the first

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pictures taken by humans from space

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forever change the way that we view

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ourselves and our world

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now if you've ever flown on an airplane

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and been lucky enough to sit at the

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window seat you know that there's a

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natural desire to look out the window

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well on orbit it's no different

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on our off-duty time we astronauts like

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to nestle ourselves up next to the

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window and do simply that gaze at the

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so

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cutter

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absolutely yeah

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it's just like in the pool instead of

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that

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as the international space station flies

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257

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statute miles over the coast of chile

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terry virts in the initial moments of

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the earth is unbelievably beautiful when

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viewed from the iss but as good as

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cameras are today they still don't do it

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justice

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observing the earth means more than just

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looking out the window or taking

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pictures from the international space

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station

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with new sensors mounted to the iss we

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can monitor ocean winds measure clouds

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airborne particles ozone and more

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think of the iss as a human crewed

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existing platform ready made

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and scanners that can observe all kinds

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of things that affect us right here on

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earth

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so one such instrument is isis rapidscat

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which monitors ocean winds for climate

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research weather prediction and

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hurricane science

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which we here on the gulf coast really

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like

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so let's take a look at nasa's rapid

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seeing things like a hurricane develop

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in its earliest phases

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getting a much better idea of its

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strength than we can from flying one or

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two planes through it we can map the

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entire surface effect of a tropical

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the iss rapid scat is a mission to bring

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a payload to the international space

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station and from there we will observe

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the earth's oceans and be able to map

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the speed and direction of winds near

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the surface rapid scat is a

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scatterometer it's a radar it sends out

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little bits of energy towards earth's

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surface that then get reflected back if

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the ocean is flat most of that energy

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from the radar just scatters away the

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stronger the wind the rougher the

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surface will be the more energy will be

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returned to the radar and then we can

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convert that energy into a measurement

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of the wind and that'll help us do

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things like track and predict severe

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storms and also learn about the ocean

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atmospheric interface especially over

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the tropical regions which are of great

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interest to the united states because

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most of the tropical hurricanes that hit

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the united states come from those

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we're launching uh on a spacex falcon 9

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rocket the dragon capsule separates from

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the falcon 9 in orbit and after orbiting

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earth a couple of times the

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international space station robotic arm

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reaches out and

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gently grabs the dragon as the dragon

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you know slowly approaches the iss about

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two days later ground controllers bring

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the robot arm over the robotic arm then

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reaches into the trunk and grabs the

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instrument

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and plugs that onto the international

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space station and everything mates

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robotically we hook these pieces

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together and then we get to stay on the

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outside of the space station for a

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the space station came and asked what

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relatively inexpensive payloads we could

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put up on the space station we had this

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hardware sitting there doing nothing

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collecting dust for the last 13 years we

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might as well try to put it to use what

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if we took some of the existing hardware

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and tried to fly it in the simplest way

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possible we've put them through

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extensive testing electrically tested

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them vibration tables thermal vacuum

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chambers and that leftover hardware

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meant that we got to save about 80

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percent of the cost in terms of being

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able to reuse the hardware instead of

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building new and we've added the

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necessary adjustments needed for this

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new orbiting platform that we'll be on

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the space station is built out we know

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what the external capabilities are we

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know we can put science instruments in

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different places we're taking something

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with a very small team a very small

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budget and a very short schedule and

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turning it into something with very real

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science

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value the global coverage of the earth

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is probably right now one of the

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greatest priorities that people should

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have in mind when they think about the

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importance of the space program the

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earth is a very dynamic very complex

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system and because of the role that

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winds play it's a fundamental part of

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that whole story

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and we need people's awareness and

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understanding of the importance of

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nasa's mission

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to help understand how our climate is

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and we'll check on it

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wow isis rapid scat is way cool and it's

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definitely going to benefit us here on

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earth better yet it's not the only earth

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observing scanner on board the iss it

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has a new neighbor on board it's called

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cats it's a laser instrument that

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measures clouds and airborne particles

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such as pollution mineral dust and smoke

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in this next segment we're going to meet

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the team behind cats and learn more

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hey john finish with your model

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thanks

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so you're looking forward to the launch

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my project is a lidar instrument called

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cats

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and it measures clouds and pollution in

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the earth's atmosphere

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these are important because they affect

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society in many ways so little johnny

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how does this lidar work

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lidar is actually quite simple you shine

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laser light at the earth's atmosphere

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and measure the amount of light

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scattered back

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my instrument will measure

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today a team at nasa goddard is

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preparing to demonstrate for the first

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time in space a three wavelength laser

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remote sensing instrument

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the cloud aerosol transport system or

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cats will measure clouds and aerosols in

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the earth's atmosphere

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to obtain this data katz uses a laser

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that generates three wavelengths or

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colors of light

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internal to the laser special optical

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crystals are used to generate these

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wavelengths by adding the energy of two

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photons to make a single new photon

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the final output beam is made up of all

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three wavelengths and these photons are

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transmitted in groups towards the

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atmosphere at the speed of light

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as photons encounter clouds or particles

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scattering of the laser beam occurs very

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few of the photons scatter directly back

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to the optical telescope but the ones

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that return are collected and counted by

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sensitive detectors and electronics

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by timing the difference between

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emission and detection the precise

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altitude of the particles can be

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while monitoring global hazards from

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above cats will determine the height

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thickness and extent of smoke dust

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particles and volcanic ash in our

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atmosphere

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improving cloud data will allow

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scientists to create more accurate

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climate models which in turn will

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improve air quality forecasts and health

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risk alerts

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this cost-effective technology

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demonstration will utilize the

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international space station as a

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scientific platform for up to three

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years

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once proven the cat's technology can be

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used to further a larger free flyer

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satellite mission until then cats will

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provide information that can help us

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better understand earth's complex

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start

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well we have a treat for you we have

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with us today a real live nasa scientist

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welcome to melissa higgins to station

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life thank you very much tracy this is

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fun good it's great to have you here

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thank you i wonder if you could share

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with us a little bit about what you do

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in the crew earth observation office

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here at johnson space center sure what

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we do primarily we look at astronaut

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photography of earth so we study earth

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over periods of time

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we look at imagery from decades ago to

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just today and hopefully in the future

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as well so what we get to do is we look

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at the crew's

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iss orbit tracks on a daily basis and

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we'll ask them to take imagery of our

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different

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objectives and those could range from

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different science experiments like from

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principal investigators around the world

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that we work with or classroom teachers

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we also work with them in

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specific investigations that the

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classrooms are doing and we have the

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crew take pictures for them which is

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very important i think because it really

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introduces the children to kind of the

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stem fields of science technology

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engineering and mathematics which we

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think is very exciting

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and we also get to do public affairs

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requests sort of like

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we worked with national geographic

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earlier last year we got to do the live

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from space with them

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and we also work currently with imax

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which they're putting out a new film

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next year so we help them with all their

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earth scenes for the film that's amazing

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yeah

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well so you mentioned uh photographs

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from space

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and i know personally from the

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experience that i had living on board

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that

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kind of a a big project in and of itself

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and you listed off a number of things

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that your office is responsible for and

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i just wondered um what's it like can

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you describe a little bit more about

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what it's like from your point of view

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uh working with the astronauts who are

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taking photos of the earth and sending

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them down yeah it's great to be able to

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work with the crew just because we get

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to get that human interaction behind the

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camera which we really like to see

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because it's one thing to have kind of

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um

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an orbiting satellite taking imagery

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from space but it's a whole other thing

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when you get an astronaut behind the

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camera taking a picture for us with one

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of these very large cameras as you can

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see

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of course it's a little heavier down

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here on earth than it is up there i'm

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sure teresa is to tell you that it's so

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much better that's why we have

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microgravity

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i can tell you that from

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the perspective of being on orbit and a

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crew member responsible for

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taking these photos first of all your

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office prepares a message

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for the astronauts on board that tells

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them

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when to look where to look and what

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settings to use on the camera

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and it's up to the astronaut then to be

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looking at their timeline which is going

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about as fast as the space station's

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traveling over the earth 17 500 miles

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per hour and you you what the astronaut

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does on orbit is uh they receive this

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message in the morning of their work day

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and they

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plan their day accordingly because um

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you know the the space station's going

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over the earth

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and um and when you're over that

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particular spot that's when you've got

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to have the camera in the window ready

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to go it's got a small window it's got a

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small window time and you've got a lot

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of stuff

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to put together and to hang on to and um

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it's it really takes a skill

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to to translate the message that you all

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send to us even though it's it's

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perfectly written and very clear

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the the work that we have to do on orbit

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in order to get ourselves in a window on

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time on target is no small feat it takes

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some skill but also deep respect for the

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amount of skill and work it takes to not

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only determine where we want the

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astronauts to take a picture but also

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once that picture comes back

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determining where it is the features

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and actually using that photograph for

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scientific purposes and that's something

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that your office is quite good at i mean

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you you probably know this earth

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better than most people in the world

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would you say

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i think i'm getting up there yeah you

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know

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i've only got a few years under my belt

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but i think you know my knowledge of it

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now is significantly better than before

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i am the associate iss program scientist

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for earth observations

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and i'm also the nasa technical lead for

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the earth sciences remote sensing unit

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here in the

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astro materials research and exploration

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science division of the exploration

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integration and science directorate at

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so my primary role is to oversee

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the development and management of the

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well it's the iss is well known for

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being accrued platforms accrued

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spacecraft orbiting the earth past 30

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some odd years or so we've had a number

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of satellites opening the earth

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examining uh the earth's surface through

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various remote sensing instruments

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the iss is now becoming a place to put

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those instruments similar instruments on

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board

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in addition to the humans looking out

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the window we also have a suite of other

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instruments that are commanded from the

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ground which can be either installed

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inside the iss or outside on various

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external mounting points

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including the gem exposed facility the

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columbus exposed facility and the

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external load carrier

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areas on the truss

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and these instruments are

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they're also looking at the earth for

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the most part

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but they're more sophisticated generally

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than the handheld digital cameras that

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the science mission directorate has now

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approved

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a

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future mission

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called the jedi lidar which will fire a

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laser optical system firing down at the

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earth's surface to look at vegetation

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pattern changes and tie that to changes

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in climate we also now have a current

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laser system on board the cats the cloud

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aerosol transport system and that's

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firing a laser into the upper atmosphere

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looking primarily at particulate

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distributions and seeing how that

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affects differences in atmospheric

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well there there's there are two things

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that we can gain from putting these

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instruments on the iss

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one is the iss is in a fundamentally

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different orbit

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uh around the earth than a lot of the

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the robotic remote sensing instruments

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that we currently have they're in polar

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orbits

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which means they they're oriented at 90

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degrees to the to the poles and they

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collect data on a roughly 12 to 14 day

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recurrence you have the capacity from

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the iss to collect really a

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fundamentally different kind of data

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than you collect from the other orbiting

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satellites so it's it's a very

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complementary data set

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uh the second item

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00:20:29,430 --> 00:20:27,039
is that it a lot the iss is a

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00:20:31,990 --> 00:20:29,440
uh is sort of a cheap tryout

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platform for sensors people who are

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developing new instruments or

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people who have built instruments that

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were planned to fly on other satellites

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but then from one reason another

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the mission got scrubbed funding got cut

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what have you

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they still have the sensors built and if

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they have a complete sensor that's

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sitting on a shelf somewhere

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the iss provides them a new platform to

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put this sensor on

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and typically if

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00:21:00,230 --> 00:20:57,280
nasa will fly the sensor up particularly

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00:21:02,310 --> 00:21:00,240
if it's already built and so it's a nice

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sort of a cheap scenario for people to

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00:21:06,070 --> 00:21:03,600
get their sensors up there collect the

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00:21:07,669 --> 00:21:06,080
data they need without having to wait

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00:21:09,750 --> 00:21:07,679
for a new satellite platform to be

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designed or to design that platform

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00:21:13,909 --> 00:21:10,880
themselves

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i'm will stefanov i work for the iso

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00:21:19,190 --> 00:21:16,000
program science office here at nasa

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00:21:22,789 --> 00:21:21,270
for any affordable usos crew member

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00:21:25,990 --> 00:21:22,799
there's no response required but if you

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00:21:28,310 --> 00:21:26,000
can please close the lab thanks

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00:21:30,470 --> 00:21:28,320
as you can see our international space

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00:21:32,950 --> 00:21:30,480
station is an unprecedented research

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00:21:35,029 --> 00:21:32,960
platform in space allowing researchers

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00:21:37,830 --> 00:21:35,039
and scientists to conduct experiments

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00:21:39,830 --> 00:21:37,840
that can't be done anywhere else

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00:21:41,830 --> 00:21:39,840
so two more experiments we call them

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00:21:44,789 --> 00:21:41,840
payloads in our world are scheduled to

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get on board the iss in 2016.

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00:21:49,669 --> 00:21:48,000
get ready there's sage 3 and lightning

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00:21:51,510 --> 00:21:49,679
imaging sensor

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00:21:53,430 --> 00:21:51,520
sage 3 will measure ozone and other

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00:21:55,909 --> 00:21:53,440
gases in the upper atmosphere and help

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00:21:57,430 --> 00:21:55,919
scientists to assess how the ozone layer

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00:21:59,590 --> 00:21:57,440
is recovering

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00:22:01,750 --> 00:21:59,600
and lis will monitor global lightning

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00:22:03,590 --> 00:22:01,760
for earth science studies and support

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00:22:04,789 --> 00:22:03,600
operational weather forecasting and

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00:22:06,950 --> 00:22:04,799
warning

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00:22:10,470 --> 00:22:06,960
looks like utilizing the iss to further

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00:22:12,390 --> 00:22:10,480
benefit all humankind is right on track

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00:22:13,990 --> 00:22:12,400
thanks for joining us on station life at

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00:22:15,590 --> 00:22:14,000
our behind the scenes look at using the

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00:22:17,909 --> 00:22:15,600
international space station as the

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00:22:19,750 --> 00:22:17,919
platform for studying the earth be sure

459
00:22:21,510 --> 00:22:19,760
to follow us on facebook and twitter for

460
00:22:23,110 --> 00:22:21,520
the latest research news and don't

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00:22:25,669 --> 00:22:23,120
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