LOS ANGELES, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Just days after its successful installation on the International Space Station, the newest Earth-observing mission has collected its first science data on Earth's surface temperature, according to the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The new instrument, called the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS), was launched on June 29 on a SpaceX cargo resupply mission.
After a few days of testing and start-up activities, ECOSTRESS, berthed at the station on July 2, acquired its first-light image on July 9.
"Often satellite missions require weeks or months to produce data of the quality that we are already getting from ECOSTRESS," Simon Hook, the mission's principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), said in a press release on Monday.
The instrument is one of a new class of low-cost, rapid-development NASA science instruments. It will measure the temperature of plants from space, enabling researchers to determine how much water plants use and to study how droughts affect plant health, said NASA.
The team is now checking out the instrument and acquiring preliminary science data, a process expected to take about a month.
When this process is complete, ECOSTRESS will be ready to begin its one-year science mission. Over the next year, the instrument will use the space station's unique low Earth orbit to collect data over multiple areas of land at different times of the day.
The instrument will address three overarching science questions: How is the terrestrial biosphere responding to changes in water availability? How do changes in diurnal vegetation water stress impact the global carbon cycle? Can agricultural vulnerability be reduced through advanced monitoring of agricultural water consumptive use and improved drought estimation?
The ECOSTRESS mission will answer these questions by accurately measuring the temperature of plants.
ECOSTRESS's data will provide insight into plants' health and water intake and signs of mounting water stress -- the beginning of a drought, allowing farmers and others to develop a solution and plan accordingly.
