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New Zealand and NASA have partnered for their first international space mission, aiming to help protect the world’s vulnerable ecosystems.
The Centre for Space Science Technology (CSST), an Alexandra-based regional institute, is leading the Kiwi contingent helping with NASA’s mission. The research involves studying plant temperatures to better understand how much water plants need and how they respond to stress.
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) scientist Dr Joshua Fisher said a refrigerator-sized instrument was installed on the International Space Station in July, where it would remain for at least 12 months.
CSST/NASA
The instrument captures images of areas like Mt Taranaki (pictured), from the International Space Station.
The instrument will capture temperature measurements of the world’s surface and send the data back down to Earth.
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Researchers from University of Waikato, Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) will provide ground measurements from New Zealand.
“The CSST and New Zealand researchers have established an important network of ecosystem measurements across a diverse landscape. This is important not only for understanding New Zealand’s rich ecology, but also for helping NASA to calibrate and validate similar measurements from space,” Fisher said.
JPL scientist Dr Kerry Cawse-Nicholson said the information New Zealand researchers are gathering could be used to protect the world’s vulnerable ecosystems.
“We are excited to be working with the New Zealand team and look forward to doing more work with them in the future,” Cawse-Nicholson said.
Dr Christian Zammit, a hydrologist from NIWA, said being involved in the multinational project highlighted the depth of local science expertise and resources in New Zealand.
Zammit is working on a project that will enable people to accurately predict how much freshwater is available, where it has come from, and how quickly it moves through New Zealand catchments.
The NASA work would help develop the model, he said.
University of Waikato Associate Professor David Campbell said they hoped to gain a new tool to understand the effects of disturbances, such as droughts, on plant productivity and greenhouse gas emissions in diverse ecosystems.
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