They will study surface Sea from the Space Station

We've all seen the dramatic pictures of Earth that take astronauts from space.

GEROS-ISS is the acronym for reflectometry, Hiding Radio and scatterometry of GNSS signals from the International Space Station.

According to the information provided by ESA in a statement that was quoted by Madrimasd.org, this mission poses installed on the International Space Station an instrument with an antenna that receives the signals sent directly from navigation satellites and have been reflected

GEROS-ISS is basically an experiment to test new techniques for earth observation.

"The most important thing is that this is the first step to evaluate the potential of the reflectometry of the GNSS signals from the space to determine and mapping the height of the sea surface at a scale of 10-100 kilometers in less than four days. In comparison, the altimeters of the current satellites generate global maps at a scale of 80 kilometers every 10 days, combining different sets of observations," ESA said.

In his view, based on GEROS-ISS system would complement existing systems and would document the variability of the oceans to a finer temporal and spatial scale tropical and temperate regions.

The development of GEROS-ISS is based on experience with British TechDemoSat-1 satellite, which measures the roughness of the ocean using a similar technique.

"Geros-Iss is a very flexible mission, which combines different concepts and applications in a single instrument: the reflectometry of the GNSS signals to determine the height of the sea surface, the dispersometry to measure the roughness of the oceans and the radio concealment to study the atmosphere," said Jens Wickert, Director of the scientific team that drafted the proposal GEROS-ISS.

"The original concept dates back to more than 20 years, and has matured through different studies and campaigns, but has never been properly tested in space," added ESA Engineer Manuel Martín-Neira. "The use of the International Space Station in this way would mean that it is possible to quickly validate new observation techniques without having to develop a complete satellite, and we hope that this opens the doors to new ways of doing science," said Michael Kern, Scientist GEROS-ISS mission for ESA.

"We are still analyzing the viability of the concept, but the objective would be to put it into orbit at the end of 2019," Jason said Hatton, Coordinator GEROS-ISS project. "Would travel to the space station aboard a ship refueling, and placed on the outside of the ESA space laboratory, Columbus, using the station's robotic arm. Once installed remain operational for a minimum of one year. "

Feasibility studies of GEROS-ISS is being conducted through the General Studies Programme of ESA.

SOURCE: Aqua.cl