NASA’s 'Space Botanist' Gathers First Data

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALTECH
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109   PHONE 818-354-5011

July 23, 2018

NEWS RELEASE: 2018-172

Just days after its successful installation on the International Space Station, NASA's newest Earth-observing mission, the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS), has collected its first science data on Earth’s surface temperature.

First Light

ECOSTRESS acquired this image the night of July 9 over Egypt. Yellow and red indicate generally higher temperatures. The River Nile is visible as a thin blue line on the main image. The black-and-white inset shows the level of detail available from ECOSTRESS, with the relatively cool Nile River and surrounding vegetation appearing darker. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

ECOSTRESS will measure the temperature of plants from space, enabling researchers to determine how much water plants use and to study how droughts affect plant health. ...Read More