Rocket launches at Vandenberg Air Force Base are nothing new. The United Launch Delta II rocket scheduled for lift-off June 9 at approximately 7:20 a.m. would be like any other launch, except for just one thing.
Its significance is due not necessarily to the spacecraft, but what’s on board.
Taking off with this rocket will be the Aquarius SAC-D observatory, blasting into space from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (you probably just call it NASA) complex two at
the base.
According to a NASA media advisory, Aquarius is the NASA-built primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft, which is scheduled for a three-year mission.
The mission is part of the NASA Earth System Science Pathfinder program, a global endeavor with an overarching goal to develop a better understanding of Earth’s systems, as well as changes in the Earth’s atmosphere as a result of the human race.
For this particular voyage, NASA has a bilateral working agreement with the Argentinean Comision Nacional de Activiades Especiales. Argentina provided the satellite, and it will also provide the ground operations system science instruments.
After nearly nine years of planning, development, and building, the mission is set to commence.
During its 408-mile orbit, Aquarius will measure ocean salinity levels. According to Gary Lagerloef, principal investigator of the NASA Aquarius Mission, the instrument is built like a microwave system. On board the spacecraft is a microwave radiometer that acts as a sensitive radio receiver.
“Every surface radiates energy, including the ocean,” he explained. “Aquarius will document energy emissions from the ocean’s surface.”
After the launch, Lagerloef said, the satellite will map global changes in salinity concentration at the ocean surface every seven days. However, it will take about three to six months to calibrate and validate the data it receives.
Salinity, for those who aren’t sure, is the quantity of dissolved solids in ocean water.
NASA also created an educational website (aquarius.nasa.gov) to help others understand the significance of this mission, and how results will be obtained.
Since salinity is key to understanding how changes in rainfall, evaporation, and the melting and freezing of ice influence ocean circulation and variations in Earth’s climate, the results gathered from this mission will allow NASA and the Argentinean commission to map out parts of the ocean that have yet to be explored.
According to Lagerloef, NASA has been developing and sending off Earth System Science missions for decades. He said there are already satellites in orbit that measure ocean surface temperature, wind, and rainfall.
“We had all the pieces in place,” he noted. “We were just missing the measurements of salinity levels.”
By combining results from the satellites in orbit with data from Aquarius, NASA will get a more comprehensive picture of the ocean. But more importantly, the results will be key when constructing quality climate models in the hope of predicting future climate change.
“We want to study the processes,” Lagerloef said. “We have all the other pieces in place.”
This article appears in Jun 9-16, 2011.
