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Paris Air Show 2023 – Highlights of the week
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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Clean air is essential for healthy living, but according to the World Health Organization (WHO), almost 99% of the global population breathes air exceeding their guideline limits of air pollution. “Air quality is a measure of how much stuff is in the air, which includes particulates and gaseous pollutants,” said Kristina Pistone, a research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center. Pistone’s research covers both atmospheric and climate areas, with a focus on the effect of atmospheric particles on climate and clouds. “It’s important to understand air quality because it affects your health and how well you can live your life and go about your day,” Pistone said. We sat down with Pistone to learn more about air quality and how it can have a noticeable impact on human health and the environment.
What makes up air quality?
There are six main air pollutants regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States: particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxides, ozone, sulfur oxides, carbon monoxide, and lead. These pollutants come from from natural sources, such as the particulate matter that rises into the atmosphere from fires and desert dust, or from human activity, such as the ozone generated from sunlight reacting to vehicle emissions.
Satellite image showing wildfire smoke drifting down from Canada into the American Midwest, captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on June 09, 2015. NASA/Jeff Schmaltz
What is the importance of air quality?
Air quality influences health and quality of life. “Just like we need to ingest water, we need to breathe air,” Pistone said. “We have come to expect clean water because we understand that we need it to live and be healthy, and we should expect the same from our air.”
Poor air quality has been tied to cardiovascular and respiratory effects in humans. Short-term exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), for example, can cause respiratory symptoms like coughing and wheezing, and long-term exposure increases the risk of developing respiratory diseases such as asthma or respiratory infections. Exposure to ozone can aggravate the lungs and damage the airways. Exposure to PM2.5 (particulates 2.5 micrometers or smaller) causes lung irritation and has been linked to heart and lung diseases.
In addition to its impacts on human health, poor air quality can damage the environment, polluting bodies of water through acidification and eutrophication. These processes kill plants, deplete soil nutrients, and harm animals.
Measuring Air Quality: the Air Quality Index (AQI)
Air quality is similar to the weather; it can change quickly, even within a matter of hours. To measure and report on air quality, the EPA uses the United States Air Quality Index (AQI). The AQI is calculated by measuring each of the six primary air pollutants on a scale from “Good” to “Hazardous,” to produce a combined AQI numeric value 0-500.
“Usually when we’re talking about air quality, we’re saying that there are things in the atmosphere that we know are not good for humans to be breathing all the time,” Pistone said. “So to have good air quality, you need to be below a certain threshold of pollution.” Localities around the world use different thresholds for “good” air quality, which is often dependent on which pollutants their system measures. In the EPA’s system, an AQI value of 50 or lower is considered good, while 51-100 is considered moderate. An AQI value between 100 and 150 is considered unhealthy for sensitive groups, and higher values are unhealthy to everyone; a health alert is issued when the AQI reaches 200. Any value over 300 is considered hazardous, and is frequently associated with particulate pollution from wildfires.
NASA Air Quality Research and Data Products
Air quality sensors are a valuable resource for capturing air quality data on a local level.
In 2022, the Trace Gas GRoup (TGGR) at NASA Ames Research Center deployed Inexpensive Network Sensor Technology for Exploring Pollution, or INSTEP: a new network of low-cost air quality sensors that measures a variety of pollutants. These sensors are capturing air quality data in certain areas in California, Colorado, and Mongolia, and have proven advantageous for monitoring air quality during California’s fire season.
The 2024 Airborne and Satellite Investigation of Asian Air Quality (ASIA-AQ) mission integrated sensor data from aircraft, satellites, and ground-based platforms to evaluate air quality over several countries in Asia. The data captured from multiple instruments on these flights, such as the Meteorological Measurement System (MMS) from NASA Ames Atmospheric Science Branch, are used to refine air quality models to forecast and assess air quality conditions.
Agency-wide, NASA has a range of Earth-observing satellites and other technology to capture and report air quality data. In 2023, NASA launched the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) mission, which measures air quality and pollution over North America. NASA’s Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for Earth Observations (LANCE) tool provides air quality forecasters with measurements compiled from a multitude of NASA instruments, within three hours of its observation.
Nitrogen dioxide levels over the D.C./Philadelphia/New York City region measured by TEMPO.NASA/Scientific Visualization Studio
Air Quality Resources to Learn More
In addition to the EPA’s website, which houses air-quality related sources, the EPA also has a platform called AirNow, which reports the local AQI across the United States and allows users to check air quality levels in their area. Pistone also recommends looking at Purple Air’s real-time map, which displays PM data taken from a crowd-sourced network of low-cost sensors and translates those measurements to estimate AQI. For those concerned about air quality, Pistone recommends checking out https://cleanaircrew.org/ for resources on indoor air quality, breathing safely with wildfire smoke, and even building your own box fan filter.
To learn more about air quality research applications, see NASA’s Applied Sciences Program’s Health & Air Quality program area, which details the use of Earth observations to assess and address air quality concerns at local, regional, and national levels. Additionally, the NASA Health and Air Quality Applied Sciences Team (HAQAST) helps connect NASA data and tools with stakeholders to better share and understand the effects of air quality on human health.
Written by Katera Lee, NASA Ames Research Center
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Last Updated Oct 18, 2024 Related Terms
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By European Space Agency
Video: 00:00:23 From 7 until 13 October 2024, ESA/NASA’s SOHO spacecraft recorded Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS), the second brightest comet it has ever seen. Meanwhile, large amounts of material were being spewed out by the Sun (covered in the centre), and planet Mercury is visible to the left.
The comet’s nucleus is clearly visible, surrounded by a dusty coma and trailing an impressively long tail. SOHO sees the large dust tail edge-on, curving in on itself as it is pushed outward by solar wind.
At the end of the video you can also see a rare phenomenon known as an ‘anti-tail’: a long, thin line that points towards the Sun. This tail is an optical illusion coming from SOHO getting an edge-on view of the larger cometary dust particles that accumulate in the comet’s orbital plane.
Comet C/2023 A3 was seen for the first time early last year. It most likely came from the distant Oort cloud, and the last time this comet flew through the inner Solar System (if ever) was at least 80 000 years ago.
The comet reached an estimated peak brightness just beyond –4 magnitude. (The more negative the visual magnitude value, the brighter the object.) Of the more than 5000 comets SOHO has seen flying past the Sun, only Comet C/2006 P1 (McNaught) was brighter, with a visual magnitude of –5.5.
SOHO’s location between the Sun and Earth gave it a front-row seat, but the same comet has been visible from Earth every evening since 12 October 2024. Throughout October, as the comet moves farther away from the Sun, it will gradually grow fainter and rise higher up in the western sky.
The week that SOHO watched Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS was also a wild one in terms of space weather. The Sun unleashed no less than 4 X-class flares (the highest intensity type of flare), 28 medium-intensity M-class flares, and 31 coronal mass ejections – the latter being visible as white clouds of material in the video. All this activity led to two geomagnetic storms on Earth, resulting in beautiful auroras lighting up the night sky.
SOHO, short for Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, is a joint ESA-NASA mission to study the Sun. For almost 29 years now, it has been watching the Sun itself as well as the much fainter light coming from the Sun’s outer atmosphere, called the solar corona. The data shown in this video were taken by the LASCO C3 coronagraph instrument.
Special thanks to Simeon Schmauß, who processed the raw data to create this impressive video. For comparison, here is a video of the comet with more standard data processing – the comet is so bright that it partially saturated SOHO’s sensor.
What types of comets are there?
How are comets named?
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By European Space Agency
Week in images: 07-11 October 2024
Discover our week through the lens
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By NASA
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy visited the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on Dec. 8, 2021 for tours and briefings on Michoud’s role in the Artemis program and other capabilities that enrich many facets of the nation’s space exploration endeavors. Credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy will lead the agency’s delegation at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) from Monday, Oct. 14, to Thursday, Oct. 17, in Milan.
During the congress, NASA will discuss its Low Earth Orbit Microgravity Strategy, emphasizing the agency’s efforts to advance microgravity science, technology, and exploration. The agency also will highlight its commitment to space sustainability and several missions, including initiatives that support NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach and the Artemis Accords.
NASA will amplify the following talks happening at the congress through its YouTube Channel:
Monday, Oct. 147:45 a.m. EDT (1:45 p.m. CEST): One-to-One with Heads of Agencies featuring Nelson. 12:15 p.m. EDT (6:15 p.m. CEST): Host Plenary on Responsible and Sustainable Space Exploration for Moon to Mars featuring Melroy. Wednesday, Oct. 16 9 a.m. EDT (3 p.m. CEST): A New Era in Human Presence featuring Melroy. A full agenda for this year’s IAC is available online.
Members of the media registered for IAC will have three opportunities to meet with NASA leaders. To register, media must apply through the International Astronautical Federation website. Opportunities include:
Monday, Oct. 14 5:30 p.m. CEST (11:30 a.m. EDT): NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, Lisa Campbell, president, CSA (Canadian Space Agency), and Teodoro Valente, president, Italian Space Agency, to discuss the 3rd Annual Heads of Agency meeting of the Artemis Accords Signatories. Tuesday, Oct. 15 5 p.m. CEST (11 a.m. EDT): NASA Administrator Bill Nelson to discuss the agency’s international partnerships in the Artemis era. Wednesday, Oct. 16 5 p.m. CEST (11 a.m. EDT): NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy and Robyn Gatens, director of the International Space Station and acting director of Commercial Spaceflight to discuss NASA’s Low Earth Orbit Microgravity Strategy In addition to the events outlined above, NASA will have an exhibit featuring the first sample of the asteroid Bennu to appear publicly in a non-museum setting, as well as information on the Artemis campaign, NASA’s future in low Earth orbit, and several upcoming science and technology missions. NASA also will host subject matter expert talks throughout the week at its exhibit.
NASA will provide photos and updates about its participation in the International Astronautical Congress from its @NASAExhibit account on X.
For more information about NASA participation at IAC, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-at-iac
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Amber Jacobson
Headquarters, Washington
240-298-1832
amber.c.jacobson@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Oct 10, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
artemis accords Bill Nelson Pamela A. Melroy View the full article
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By European Space Agency
Video: 00:04:05 ESA’s Hera mission lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, USA, on 7 October at 10:52 local time (16:52 CEST, 14:52 UTC).
Hera is ESA’s first planetary defence mission. It will fly to a unique target among the 1.3 million asteroids in our Solar System – the only body to have had its orbit shifted by human action – to solve lingering unknowns associated with its deflection.
Hera will carry out the first detailed survey of a ‘binary’ – or double-body – asteroid, 65803 Didymos, which is orbited by a smaller body, Dimorphos. Hera’s main focus will be Dimorphos, whose orbit around the main body was previously altered by NASA’s kinetic-impacting DART spacecraft.
By sharpening scientific understanding of this ‘kinetic impact’ technique of asteroid deflection, Hera should turn the experiment into a well-understood and repeatable technique for protecting Earth from an asteroid on a collision course.
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