NASA is interested in tracking air pollution

Environmental Surveillance with the NASA Tropospheric Composition Program (TEMPO), an environmental monitoring satellite of South Korea and ESA

This is the first time NASA has done environmental surveilance. Since the 1990s, the agency has flown small aircraft over the ocean, rainforests and parts of Asia and Africa in order to measure the ozone layer. “That was sort of what we call the exploratory days,” says Earth scientist Barry Lefer, manager of NASA’s Tropospheric Composition Program, which focuses on the chemical makeup of pollutants inhabiting the atmosphere underneath the ozone layer. “But,” he continues, “the transition to urban air quality is relatively new.”

TEMPO makes up one part of a constellation of pollution-monitoring satellites that NASA has developed with South Korea and the European Space Agency (ESA). South Korea’s instrument, which monitors pollution hourly over Asia, launched in 2020. The constellation is supposed to be complete in the year of 2024 when the sentinel will be launched.

SpaceX Launches a Satellite for the Measurement of Surface Air Quality over North America with SpaceX’s Falcon9 Rocket and TEMPO

The American Lung Association gives F grades to counties that have high levels of ozone. It falls along racial and economic lines. People of color are 3.6 times more likely than white people to live in a county with multiple failing grades for different kinds of pollution, according to the report. Lower-income communities have more air pollution.

“We’ve known that oil refineries or chemical plants tend to be situated in lower-income neighborhoods; one of the reasons the property values are lower is due to poor air quality. But we’ve never had ground-based monitors stationed in every neighborhood to confirm it,” John Haynes, TEMPO program applications lead at NASA, said in a March 30th press release.

Relating to TEMpo, is supposed to get rid of the blind spots. It will measure the light from the gases and particles reflected back into space. Scientists can tell the different substances apart by the unique wavelengths of light they reflect.

TEM POW will be on a satellite cruising along at the exact same rate as Earth’s rotation. For the first time, the instrument is going to be able to measure hourly over North America. Before TEMPO, other satellites equipped with similar tools could typically only take measurements once a day.

SpaceX’s Falcon9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 12:30AM ET on Friday with the satellite carrying TEMPO. It’s a communications satellite, Intelsat 40e, that’s primary purpose is to provide internet service to planes and cruise ships.

The Air Quality in the US: How John Haynes Moved to Washington, D.C. 20 Years ago : The Effects of Ground-Based Pollution Monitors

When John Haynes relocated to Washington, DC 20 years ago, he was able to see some of the pollution from the rooftop of NASA headquarters. “There was a cloud of smog that just followed the freeway,” he says, “all the way out into Virginia.”

They want to create a picture of what is in the sky, and how it got there, using only ground based pollution monitors. An Environmental Protection Agency monitor on the ground isn’t representative of air quality in most of the US. Data from other parts of the world isn’t as plentiful.