New Satellite Is a ‘Swiss Army Knife’ in Space

Researchers will soon be able to analyze Earth's surface in detail, from the state of the planet's soil to the plants that bloom on it. Germany's 300-million Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) satellite was delivered by a rocket from Florida. In the fall, researchers around the world will be able to apply to set the mission's sights on specific targets. The principal investigator of EnMAP is a scientist at the German Research Center for Geosciences in Potsdam. We are pretty sure that we will have high quality data.

EnMAP is one of the next generation of hyperspectral missions that promise to fill a big gap. Compared with ordinary cameras and multispectral imagers, hyperspectral sensors record a much broader portion of the spectrum more precisely. The fingerprints of space can reveal how much expansion is due to housing or asphalt. Hyperspectral data can be used to identify the species responsible for toxic blooms. Susan Ustin is the director of the Center for Spatial Technologies and Remote Sensing at the University of California, Davis.

Climate change and industrial agriculture are causing damage to Earth's soil. Monitoring dirt's global health is difficult. She says that the current status of our soils is not assessed. Are they no longer good? What amount of degradation are they experiencing? Where are the worst places to degrade? At a glance, EnMAP will answer these questions.

Since the 1980s, scientists have been aware of the potential of spaceborne hyperspectral imagery. NASA managers were skeptical about the funding potential of a satellite mission that could address many ecological applications and science questions, saying that a mission that acted like a Swiss army knife wouldn't fly. The thinking has changed. There's more demand for more precise information for the environment with more concern about climate change.

The free data from EnMAP will complement observations from other missions. Major hyperspectral missions will be flown by NASA and the European Space Agency by the end of the decade.