Nichols Martin
Maxar Technologies has delivered satellite imagery data to NASA’s Earth Science Division for use in a variety of research programs that aim to address climate change.
The visual data, coming from the WorldView-4 satellite, marks the first delivery under Maxar’s $7M commercial Earth observation data contract with the space agency, the company said Wednesday.
Compton Tucker, a senior scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, said Maxar’s data offers details that help scientists study subject environments.
NASA intends to use the data to support four programs around the world.
In North America, Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) seeks to study the resiliency of Alaskan and western Canadian ecosystems amid environmental changes.
In Asia, High Mountain Asia (HMA) employs researchers to study climate, hydrology and cryosphere changes by investigating glacier and snow reservoirs in the high mountain Asia region.
In Africa, Vegetation Monitoring and Biomass Estimation engages scientists who aim to study the low-land vegetation of Sub-Saharan Africa and determine their carbon levels.
Worldwide, Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) seeks to measure the amount of carbon that forests absorb and determine the effects of habitat degradation on global biodiversity. This program leverages International Space Station’s laser altimeter.
DigitalGlobe, a Maxar business, received the contract on behalf of Maxar in 2018.
