nasa to turn iss into perfect earth-observing platform - laser measuring instrument

Washington: Nasa has added some Earth to better monitor our planet
International Space Station observation instrument (ISS)
This will increase the leverage of orbital labs for their unique advantages in space.
Nasa said the launch of the sea breeze sensor to the international space station this month opened a new era of Earth observation.
By the end of ten years, Nasa will install six Earth science instruments into the space station to help scientists study our changing planet.
NASA's first Earth
Observation instruments to be installed outside the space station will be launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base by September 19. ISS-
RapidScat will monitor ocean winds from the space station for climate research, weather forecasts and hurricane monitoring, Nasa said.
The second tool is cloud.
Aerosol delivery system (CATS)
, A laser instrument for measuring the location and distribution of air particles such as clouds and air pollution, mineral dust, smoke and other particles in the atmosphere.
The cat will follow the International Space Station.
RapidScat is scheduled to carry out its fifth space station replenishment flight in December.
"We saw the space station born as an Earth --
"Observation platform," said Julie Robinson, chief scientist at NASA's Johnson Space Center International Space Station program in Houston.
"Its orbit is different from other remote sensing platforms of the Earth.
It is closer to the Earth, and at different times of the day it sees the Earth with different schedules.
This provides an opportunity to supplement the rest of the Earth.
"Today the instruments are being detected in orbit," Robinson said . ".
Space Station-
Join 17 Nasa Earth fleets based on instruments-
Observation tasks currently provide data on dynamic and complex Earth systems. ISS-
RapidScat and CATS were launched after the Global Precipitation Measurement Core Observatory, jointly launched in February with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Most of the agency is freeflying, Earth-
Observation satellites orbit the Earth at a height above 400 miles in order to collect data from all parts of the Earth.
Although the space station will not travel through the polar regions of the Earth, it is 240 kilometersmile-
The high track does provide logistical and scientific advantages.
"With the space station, we don't have to build a spacecraft to collect new data --
It's already there, "said Stephen Walz, deputy director of the Earth Science Department Flight Program at Nasa Headquarters in Washington.
Two other Nasa Earth science instruments are scheduled to launch into the space station in 2016.