This week while we were at JPL NASA we saw their clean room where they are working on the Mars rover, we also went into their machine shop, and finally we got to talk to talk to the project scientist for the NISAR mission and the geologist. The project scientist is Paul Rosen and the geologist is Tom Farr. First Paul Rosen explained to us what the NISAR mission did. It is a mission to send a satellite into space that they are working on together with India and their space center. They are working on sending a SAR satellite into the earths orbit to collect data and observe and quantify changes in the earth. It will do things such as monitor the ground water, the change in biomass, the change in ice sheets, the change in ocean level and record changes in subsidence levels. This satellite will have a 12 day repeat schedule, which means it will go around the earth to each spot where it will collect data every 12 days. They want to build this satellite to collect data from all over the earth in order to better understand the changes that are happening.
After we talked to Paul Rosen and got lunch we got to talk to Tom Farr, the geologist. He explained more about what they would do with the data that the NISAR satellite will be collecting. With the information that the satellite would be collecting JPL NASA won't actually do anything with the data besides release it. They want to release this data to the public so any organization can have access to it in order to better their companies. Tom Farr talked most about in his presentation was about the idea of subsidence and how the satellite would help monitor those changes.
Subsidence is caused when humans pump water out of the ground and syphon it up to the surface of the ground. This is mostly caused by farmers gathering water to water their crops. When people keep pumping water out the ground the ground starts to get more compact. This causes the ground at that part to subside further down towards sea level. This has been happening a lot in the California Basin. If the ground subsides too far it will loose its ability to hold any water at all and cause major floods when it rains. To monitor the changes in the ground they use interferometry with the SAR radars which, without really explaining it, is a way to measure the difference in ground heights over a period of time. This type of data is the kind of data that NASA would release to the public so that companies and farmers can look at it to see the damage their water use is and change their ways. It is also helpful in planning underground rail systems in cities and other types of urban development projects.
This week while we were at JPL NASA we saw their clean room where they are working on the Mars rover, we also went into their machine shop, and finally we got to talk to talk to the project scientist for the NISAR mission and the geologist. The project scientist is Paul Rosen and the geologist is Tom Farr. First Paul Rosen explained to us what the NISAR mission did. It is a mission to send a satellite into space that they are working on together with India and their space center. They are working on sending a SAR satellite into the earths orbit to collect data and observe and quantify changes in the earth. It will do things such as monitor the ground water, the change in biomass, the change in ice sheets, the change in ocean level and record changes in subsidence levels. This satellite will have a 12 day repeat schedule, which means it will go around the earth to each spot where it will collect data every 12 days. They want to build this satellite to collect data from all over the earth in order to better understand the changes that are happening.
After we talked to Paul Rosen and got lunch we got to talk to Tom Farr, the geologist. He explained more about what they would do with the data that the NISAR satellite will be collecting. With the information that the satellite would be collecting JPL NASA won't actually do anything with the data besides release it. They want to release this data to the public so any organization can have access to it in order to better their companies. Tom Farr talked most about in his presentation was about the idea of subsidence and how the satellite would help monitor those changes.
Subsidence is caused when humans pump water out of the ground and syphon it up to the surface of the ground. This is mostly caused by farmers gathering water to water their crops. When people keep pumping water out the ground the ground starts to get more compact. This causes the ground at that part to subside further down towards sea level. This has been happening a lot in the California Basin. If the ground subsides too far it will loose its ability to hold any water at all and cause major floods when it rains. To monitor the changes in the ground they use interferometry with the SAR radars which, without really explaining it, is a way to measure the difference in ground heights over a period of time. This type of data is the kind of data that NASA would release to the public so that companies and farmers can look at it to see the damage their water use is and change their ways. It is also helpful in planning underground rail systems in cities and other types of urban development projects.
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