For the past decade NASA's Terra spacecraft
has examined key attributes of Earth's land, oceans and atmosphere much
the way a doctor tracks a patient's vital signs. And like planetary
physicians, Terra scientists have used this continuous stream of
information to make an array of new diagnoses about the planet's
changing climate and environment.
The flagship of NASA's Earth-observing fleet, Terra was the first spacecraft designed to carry a suite of instruments uniquely able to accumulate an ongoing record of a wide variety of planetary health indicators—from carbon storage and cloud cover to wildfires and oil spills. Indeed, Terra's five onboard sensors have scanned the entire globe every one to two days since they saw "first light" on February 24, 2000, and are expected to continue at that pace for another five years [see "Monitoring Earth's Vital Signs," in the April 2000 issue of Scientific American ].
To read the full, original article click on this link: Planetary Paparazzi: 10 Vital Views of Earth [Slide Show]: Scientific American
Author: Sarah Simpson
