NASA’s new instrument will be the smallest space-based device
NASA has launched a new prototype instrument to help predict volcanic eruptions.
This instrument will be the smallest space-based device — with the highest resolution — dedicated to observing gasses like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide that can be precursors of volcanic activity, as its weight is only 13 pounds.
The Nanosat Atmospheric Chemistry Hyperspectral Observation System (NACHOS) instrument is a prototype.
Still, NASA is planning to deploy the miniature device, which launched aboard a recent resupply mission the International Space Station in the May of 2022. It will detect gasses in areas as small as .15 square miles, which is roughly the size of the Mall of America, NASA said.
NASA researchers are hoping that NACHOS will do more than predict volcanic eruptions. The agency will use the device to monitor the air quality around cities, neighborhoods, and even individual power plants.
NACHOS’ size makes it much cheaper and smaller than the satellites currently used to observe trace gasses.
Predicting Volcanic Eruptions- CK-12 Foundation
NACHOS image with its solar panels.
NACHOS will remain in orbit for around a year when replaced with another instrument.
The eruption site of Geldingadalir in Fagradalsfjall mountain on the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland.
NASA is launching a prototype instrument to make volcanic monitoring activity and air quality easier. NACHOS is a part of Northrop Grumman’s resupply mission to the International Space Station.
If the mission becomes successful, then NASA’s NACHOS will be the smallest, highest resolution space-based instrument and the instrument that will monitor atmospheric trace gases like nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide (SO2), paving the way for future Earth-observing systems.
This will help predict volcanic eruptions and monitor the air quality around specific cities, neighborhoods, and even individual power plants.
See the image of NACHOS CubeSat
Atmospheric trace gasses like nitrogen dioxide, often produced by burning fossil fuels, the gases from natural and human-made sources, always provide scientists with many Earth systems.
For example, nitrogen dioxide, which we get by burning fossil fuels, can cause harm to human health and can also be served as a tracer for carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change) that results from human activity.
File photo of Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft inside the International Space Station’s Canadarm2.
“When we recognize that these gasses are present and can localize their sources on a sub-kilometer scale, we have the opportunity to take action and minimize negative health outcomes,” said Love.
But monitoring trace gasses requires instruments sensitive enough to gather high-resolution data; traditionally, that’s meant creating larger satellites equipped with a full suite of robust sensors.
NACHOS unfoldingly fixed to a CubeSat with its solar panels.
NACHOS uses onboard processing algorithms.
NACHOS will become that solution at 13 pounds (6 kilograms) and 18 cubic inches (300 centimeters cubed). NACHOS uses onboard processing algorithms.
These algorithms reduce the size of its data transmissions and the amount of time it takes to relay those transmissions back to Earth. These run well on small computers and give NACHOS considerable computational power without increasing the instrument’s size or weight.
May 2022 is when the spacecraft will unberth from the International Space Station and place NACHOS in low-Earth orbit before the cargo spacecraft re-enters Earth.
NASA’s Office funded the prototype by its Invest program.
Published By: Jaspreet Singh
Edited By: Kritika Kashyap
