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New Space Station Instrument Raises Windy Science From The Dead
A false-color image of ocean wind speeds generated by NASA’s QuikScat satellite in 1999. Fast wind speeds are shown in orange, and blue ones are slow. The white shows where the wind is blowing. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Here’s a cool example of a satellite recycling project. NASA used to have a probe called QuikSCAT that took a look at ocean wind speeds — including hurricanes, storms and typhoons. After 10 years of loyal service, the satellite failed in 2009 and a full replacement looked expensive. Now, however, spare parts for QuikSCAT are going to be used on the International Space Station for a low-budget fix (which the agency says will work just fine).
The parts are old — they are from the 1990s — but incredibly, they are functional. NASA also added some newer, commercially available hardware to make ISS-RapidScat fit in the space station as well as the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that will bring it to orbit in early 2014.
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Read the rest of New Space Station Instrument Raises Windy Science From The Dead (354 words)
© Elizabeth Howell for Universe Today, 2013. |
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Post tags: hurricane, ISS-Rapidscat, quikscat, Typhoon, wind
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Source: http://www.universetoday.com/105930/new-space-station-instrument-raises-windy-science-from-the-dead/
