The mission to study the energy balance of the earth, by measuring the energy that comes from the sun to the earth and the energy that is reflected back into space
JAKARTA – The study of climate change is not only happening above the Earth’s surface, but far into outer space. As recently announced by the European Space Agency (ESA) in a mission called TRUTHS.
TRUTHS, which stands for Traceable Radiometry Underpinning Terrestrial- and Helio-Studies, is ESA’s latest space mission to measure how much heat is trapped in Earth’s atmosphere.
This measure will later be used to help see if humanity is making progress in dealing with the worst impacts of climate change.
For the sake of simplicity, this mission will study the so-called energy balance of the Earth. By comparing the amount of energy that comes to Earth from the Sun, and how much is reflected back into space.
TRUTHS is set to provide measurements of incoming solar radiation and reflected radiation from Earth back into space, as a traceable International System of Units.
These measurements will later allow changes in Earth’s climate to be detected more quickly, and will be used to calibrate data from other satellites. Thus TRUTHS will become the ‘standard laboratory in space’, setting the ‘gold standard’ for climate measurement.
During its mission, the TRUTHS Satellite will carry two main instruments: the Cryogenic Solar Absolute Radiometer and the Hyperspectral Imaging Spectrometer, supported by a new onboard calibration system.
Together, these instruments will perform continuous measurements of the incoming solar radiation and reflected radiation. These two observations will be used to evaluate the ratio of energy in to energy out.
“Essentially, the amount of incoming solar energy compared to the amount bouncing back into space controls our climate. Accurate knowledge of this energy exchange is critical to understanding and monitoring change,” the ESA wrote in an announcement on its official website.
The TRUTHS mission itself was first introduced at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, last Wednesday (3/11).
Since it was created by the UK’s National Physical Laboratory, ESA develops TRUTHS on behalf of the UK and other partner countries across Europe. This includes companies, such as Airbus in the UK, international industry consortia, and supported by European researchers.
Currently, TRUTHS has moved from Phase A, which is the feasibility phase. Towards Phase B1, which is the initial design phase. It will eventually lead to the ‘adoption’ of the mission and the selection of an industrial contractor to continue its construction, and be ready for launch sometime in 2029.
“As the satellites move through these important phases, it will be many of them (European Space Agency, UK Space Agency and industry involved) that will ultimately benefit,” said Nigel Fox, of the UK’s National Physical Laboratory.
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