Vienna technology detects air pollutants at a distance of 36,000 km

Technology derived from Vienna helps monitor air pollutants from space. NASA mission TEMPO It was launched on April 7 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket and has now reached its final position in geostationary orbit at an altitude of 36,000 km. Beyond gravity On Friday with the Vienna Aerospace Corporation He has one for NASA The future of navigation Built to pinpoint exact location in space while measuring atmospheric gases such as ozone over North America.

airborne on a communications satellite

The NASA Tropospheric Emissions Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) instrument flies aboard an Intelsat geostationary communications satellite. It is an ultraviolet spectrophotometer that measures light from the Earth’s surface and atmosphere Reflected and scattered sunlight To detect pollutants such as ozone, nitrogen dioxide or formaldehyde. The data you collect is intended to Improve air quality forecasting constribte.

Precise location, accurate weather data

The GEORIX navigation receiver is designed to assist TEMPO in determining its position in orbit. The more precise it is, “the more accurate NASA climate data will be,” explained Kurt Cooper, managing director of Beyond Gravity Austria. that it The first navigation receiver company geostationary orbit. About 30 such devices from the Vienna Aerospace Corporation currently locate satellites in near-Earth orbits.