Zurich/Paris – The team for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) new satellite mission CHIME visited the University of Zurich (UZH) to learn about the progress made in the application of the world’s best imaging NASA spectrometer AVIRIS-4. It is being prepared at UZH for its first flight in July 2024.
An international ESA team involved in the satellite mission CHIME (Copernicus Hyperspectral Imaging Mission for the Environment) visited the University of Zurich to find out about the latest research activities. The UZH Remote Sensing Laboratories ( RSL) are currently preparing the AVIRIS-4 imaging spectrometer for its first flight as part of the CHIME project. It may already take place in the third week of July and can be followed online. The RSL conducts research in the fields of biodiversity, genetic diversity and the Earth system (Earth System Science).
CHIME is one of six new projects to extend the Copernicus Sentinel mission. AVIRIS-4, currently the world's best spectrometer, will be used to study environmental changes from space. This is because precise and large-scale analyses of the earth's surface can be used to develop solutions for preserving habitats.
The sensor built by the Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the remote sensing group at the University of Zurich consists of three high-resolution measuring instruments: a spectrometer, a lidar and a photogrammetric camera. It is identical to the instrument used by NASA on the International Space Station. The new device forms the centerpiece of the new UZH research infrastructure ARES (Airborne Research Facility for the Earth System).
The members of ESA's CHIME team come from the European Space Research and Technology Center(ESTEC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, the European Space Operations Centre(ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, and the European Space Research Institute(ESRIN) in Frascati near Rome. In addition to AVIRIS-4, the team also visited the laboratory with the goniometer. This instrument is currently calibrating thermal sensors in preparation for the Indian-French satellite mission Thrisna.
The ESA team also visited the UZH Common Garden experiment on the Irchel campus. Here, a beech species and its genetic diversity within Europe are used to research its resistance to environmental influences. How the sunlight interacts with the beech trees plays a central role here. ce/mm