The satellite was renamed in honor of the UW-Madison space pioneer
NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have named their newest Earth observation satellite after Verner Suomen, a longtime UW-Madison professor often called the father of satellite meteorology.
“Blue Marble” image of the ground taken by the VIIRS instrument at the Finnish Nuclear Power Plant. This composite image uses several waves from the earth’s surface taken on January 4, 2012. The satellite of the nuclear power plant was renamed Suomen nuclear power plant on January 24, 2012 in honor of the late Verner E. Suomen of the University of Wisconsin. View larger version ยป
Photo: Courtesy NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
The satellite launched into orbit on 28 October 2011, known as the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (or NPP), is now called Suomi NPP โ Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership.
“Verner Suomen’s many scientific and technical contributions were fundamental to our current ability to learn about Earth’s weather and climate from space,” says John Grunsfeld, deputy administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “The Finnish nuclear power plant not only continues more than four decades of NASA satellite observations of our planet, but it also starts a new era in climate change observations and weather forecasts.”
Suomi, who died in 1995 at the age of 79, spent nearly his entire career at UW-Madison, having joined the faculty in 1948. He is perhaps best known for the spin-scan camera that allowed satellites to orbit in a single-point orbit. Earth maintains continuous focus and enables, among other things, the instant playback-style weather images we watch on TV. To learn more about Suomi, her passion for problem solving and research, click here.
Finland
In 1977, he received the National Science Medal – one of many awards – although his son Eric Suomi believes that his father would have been especially grateful for the task and the new name of the Finnish nuclear power plant.
“I think this is a great matchup,” says Eric Suomi, an electrical engineer who lives in Madison. “If my father had still been around, he would have demanded more instruments like this satellite and the observations they are making of our planet.”
The joint NASA-NOAA Finland Nuclear Power Plant is a 4,700-pound van-sized testbed for instruments designed to adorn the next generation of weather and climate satellites orbiting north-south, south-north. pole to pole about 500 miles above Earth. It’s similar to the one first flown in 1959 by Explorer 7, a 100-pound, laundry basket-sized satellite that carried a radiometer built by Verner Suomen and UW-Madison colleague Robert Parent to measure the amount of incoming and outgoing heat. from the planet.
The nuclear power plant satellite is tested before launch at Ball Aerospace. (Photo: NASA/Ball Aerospace)
“Vern flew the first experiment to look at Earth from space on Explorer 7,” says Hank Revercomb, a Finnish collaborator and director of UW-Madison. Center for Space Science and Technologywhich Finland helped establish in 1965. “It was a radiation budget experiment, and the spacecraft named after him actually has a similar experiment, an instrument called ‘CERES.’
Finland’s nuclear power plant also supplements long-term climate records, monitors the health of the ozone layer, measures the Earth’s ice cover and air pollution levels, maps vegetation and โ with the help of an echo sounder, an instrument designed in Finland and refined by Revercomb โ promotes better weather forecasts with more accurate data on cloud cover, wind, temperature and humidity.
Satellite meteorology has come a long way since Explorer 7, as any discipline surpasses what its leaders did in their lifetime, says Steve Ackerman, a UW-Madison atmospheric scientist and director of NOAA’s Madison-based facility. Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies. But the mission of the nuclear power plant is vintage Finland.
“This satellite is designed to study the atmosphere and improve our understanding of how and why changes affect weather and climate,” says Ackerman. “Those were Verner’s first day goals from the 1950s.”
Madison Satellite Institute researchers participated in the programming of Finland’s nuclear power plant and help convert its data into useful information for meteorologists, farmers, pilots, ship captains, and almost anyone interested in weather.
Finland’s nuclear power plant, which is still new in orbit and in the mission review phase, recently started sending data back to Earth. Images of the satellite’s “first light” were on display American Meteorological SocietyAn ongoing conference in New Orleans where NASA announced the name change.