Before a satellite is launched into orbit, scientists use instruments on NASA aircraft to calibrate, validate, and refine sensors that are part of current and future satellite payloads. In this 3-minute, 44-second video, data systems analyst Eric Fraim explains how an instrument called MASTER (MODIS Airborne ASTER Simulator) is being used to further develop Earth observing satellites. Flying on board NASA’s high-altitude ER-2, MASTER can detect thermal and visible spectral data as it scans air columns between the ground and the aircraft. The instrument was recently used for the Hyperspectral InfraRed Imager (HyspIRI) airborne preparatory mission, which focused on observing coral reef health and volcano emissions and eruptions around the Hawaiian Islands. HyspIRI is a proposed NASA satellite concept that will study natural hazards and ecosystems.
The MODIS/ASTER (MASTER) airborne simulator is a joint development involving the Airborne Sensor Facility at the Ames Research Center, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the EROS Data Center. NASA’s ER-2 aircraft is managed and based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, Hangar 703 in Palmdale, CA.
Read more about the HyspIRI Hawaii mission here:
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