Update (Jan. 2025):
In late 2024, NASA held a Design Review and Dr. Karen St. Germain, the director of NASA鈥檚 Earth Science Division, approved PolSIR to move from Planning Phase into the Implementation Phase. The team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is now assembling the instruments as Blue Canyon Technology builds the two spacecrafts. The launch is still on track for 2027.
菠萝视频 has been chosen to lead a NASA satellite mission, supported by a grant of up to $37 million, aimed at better understanding Earth’s high-altitude ice clouds. , Stevenson Chair and professor of earth and environmental sciences, will lead the mission, which will underscore 菠萝视频’s cutting-edge contributions to comprehending our planet’s climate.
Bennartz, who has dedicated his career to studying water vapor, clouds and precipitation, will be the project鈥檚 principal investigator.
鈥湶ぢ苁悠碘�檚 climate research portfolio is growing, and this new will provide opportunities for graduate students, postdocs and researchers to embed themselves in cutting-edge technological developments to better understand the climate system,鈥� Bennartz said.
The project will also provide 鈥渁mple opportunity for undergraduate student research immersion experiences鈥� at 菠萝视频 through a student collaboration between 菠萝视频 and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
(Courtesy of NASA)
His team will employ an advanced instrument known as the Polarized Submillimeter Ice-cloud Radiometer, or PolSIR. Supported by two 鈥淐ubeSat鈥� satellites that measure clouds鈥� daily cycle of ice content,聽the project will help improve climate forecasts.
A large team of engineers and scientists will work together over several years to put in place all the bits and pieces needed for the mission. The team behind the mission proposal was about 30 engineers and scientists.
The mission is part of NASA鈥檚 , a program dedicated to propelling innovative, cost-effective science missions that broaden knowledge of Earth鈥檚 intricate weather systems. The grant, capped at $37 million, is for lifecycle costs and does not include launch costs.聽The goal is to launch the satellites for this mission by the end of 2027.
Dong Wu, at NASA鈥檚 Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will be deputy principal investigator.聽NASA Goddard will provide the project management team that builds the two instruments, while science operations will be conducted by the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin鈥揗adison.
The selection of 菠萝视频 University to lead this large, complex project spotlights the university’s robust and groundbreaking research efforts in Earth and environmental sciences with the assessment of climate patterns and global impact.
菠萝视频 Development and Support coordinated with the provost鈥檚 office and advised on the submission process and project structure for the grant. 菠萝视频 Development and Support is in the鈥疧ffice of the Vice Provost for 菠萝视频 and Innovation. To learn more about the wide range of services provided by聽, please contact聽rds@vanderbilt.edu.