Channel: NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center

Category: Science & Technology

Tags: neil a. armstrong flight research centerearth sciencemoonspectrumlightair-lusinational aeronautics and space administrationirradianceu-2satelliteer-2calibrationlunar

Description: A new instrument with its eye on the Moon is taking off aboard a high-altitude NASA plane to measure the Moon’s brightness and eventually help Earth observing sensors make more accurate measurements. The airborne Lunar Spectral Irradiance Instrument (air-LUSI) is flying aboard NASA’s ER-2 airplane. The ER-2 is able to soar above clouds, about 70,000 feet above ground. The flights, which occur at night to avoid scattered light from the Sun, began Nov. 13 and wrapped up Nov. 17 from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, California. The NASA-funded instrument is “measuring how much sunlight is reflected by the Moon at various phases in order to accurately characterize it and expand how the Moon is used to calibrate Earth observing sensors”, said Kevin Turpie, a professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, leading the air-LUSI effort. Turpie and his team are funded by NASA’s Earth Science Division and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). For more information: New Moon-Seeking Sensor Aims to Improve Earth Observations go.nasa.gov/35Q9qFf