NASA Satellites Terra, Aqua, and Aura Face End of Life, Irreversible Loss of Critical Data

At some point in the next few years – no one knows when – three NASA satellites, each as heavy as an elephant, will die. They had started to move, gradually losing altitude. They have been watching the earth for more than two decades, much longer than anyone expected, helping us predict the weather, manage forest fires, monitor oil spills and more. But their age is starting to catch up with them, and soon they will send their last transplant and begin their slow fall to the ground. This is the moment scientists have been dreading.

When the three orbiters – Terra, Aqua, and Aura – are shut down, most of the data they collected will end with them, and the new satellites will not take all of it. Researchers must either rely on other sources that may not precisely meet their needs or find other ways to allow their records to continue.

With some of the data collected by these satellites, the situation is even worse: There are no other instruments to continue collecting it. In the next few years, the details they reveal about our world will be much more obscure.

“This irreparable loss of data is devastating,” said Susan Solomon, an atmospheric chemist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Right now the planet needs us to focus on understanding how we affect it, and how we affect it, we seem to be sleeping dangerously. “

The main area missing from observations is the stratosphere, where the ozone layer is important. Through the cold, thin atmosphere of the stratosphere, ozone molecules are constantly being created and destroyed, lifted and shaken, as they interact with other gases. Some of these gases have a natural origin; others exist because of us.

An instrument on Aura, a microwave sounding emitter, is giving us our best look at this chemical drama, said Ross J. Salawitch, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Maryland. Once Aura is gone, our visibility will be very low, he said.

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