The satellite was renamed in honor of UW-Madison’s space pioneer
NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have named their latest Earth observation satellite, Verner Finland, a longtime professor at UW-Madison, often referred to as the father of satellite meteorology.
“Blue Marble” image taken from the country of a VIIRS instrument at a Finnish nuclear power plant. Several waves taken from the earth’s surface taken on January 4, 2012 have been used in this composite image. The satellite of the nuclear power plant was renamed the Finnish Nuclear Power Plant in honor of the late Verner E. Finland of the University of Wisconsin on January 24, 2012. See larger version »
Image: courtesy NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
The satellite launched into orbit on 28.10.2011, known as the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (or NPP), is now called the Finland NPP – Finland National Polar-orbiting Partnership.
“Verner Finland’s many scientific and technical contributions were fundamental to our current ability to learn about the earth’s weather and climate from space,” said John Grunsfeld, assistant to NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “Finland’s nuclear power plant will not only continue NASA’s satellite observations on our planet for more than four decades, but it will also open a new era in climate change detection and forecasting.”
Finland, who died in 1995 at the age of 79, spent almost his entire career at UW-Madison when he entered the faculty in 1948. He is perhaps best known for his spin-scan camera, which allowed satellites to move in place in a single point orbit. Earth maintains continuous focus and, among other features, enables the instantaneous playback of images we watch on TV. If you want more information about Finland, his passion for problem solving and his desire to research, click here.
Finland
In 1977, he received the National Medal of Science – one of many awards – although his son Eric Suomi believes that his father would have been especially grateful for the mission and new name of the Finnish nuclear power plant.
“I think this is a great match,” says Eric Suomi, an electrical engineer living in Madison. “If my father had still been there, he would have demanded more of the instruments like this satellite and the observations they make of our planet.”
The joint NASA-NOAA Finnish nuclear power plant is a 4,700-pound commercial vehicle-sized test platform for instruments designed to adorn the next generation of weather and climate satellites orbiting from north to south. from pole to pole about 500 miles above the Earth. It is similar to the one first flown in 1959 by Explorer 7, a 100-pound laundry basket-sized satellite with a radiometer built by Verner Finland and UW-Madison colleague Robert Parent to measure the amount of heat coming in and going out. from the planet.
The nuclear power plant satellite will be tested before launch at Ball Aerospace. (Image: NASA / Ball Aerospace)
“Vern flew the first experiment to look at the Earth from space in Explorer 7,” says Hank Revercomb, a Finnish partner and director of UW-Madison’s. Center for Space Science and Technologywhich Finland helped to establish in 1965. “It was a radiation budget experiment, and according to him, the named spacecraft actually has a similar experiment, an instrument called” CERES “.
The Finnish nuclear power plant also complements long-term climate records, monitors the health of the ozone layer, measures global ice cover and air pollution levels, surveys vegetation and – using an echo sounder designed by Revercomb – promotes better weather forecasts with more accurate cloud cover, wind, temperature and weather.
Satellite meteorology has advanced a long way since Explorer 7, as any science goes beyond 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 the weather and climate,” Ackerman says. “Those were Verner’s first day goals from the 1950s.”
Researchers at the Madison Satellite Institute participated in the programming of the Finnish nuclear power plant and help turn its data into useful information for meteorologists, farmers, pilots, ship captains and almost anyone interested in the weather.
The Finnish nuclear power plant, which is still in orbit and in the review phase of the mission, 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 at which NASA announced a name change.