When we say “climate change”, we say the future of our planet, our offspring, and even us. Climate change includes both global warming that’s driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gas but also the resulting large-scale shifts when it comes to weather patterns.
According to SpaceNews.com, NASA is teaming up with the European Space Agency (ESA) for future Earth science missions to better understand and fight climate change. A virtual meeting was held on July 13, when the leaders of the two space agencies signed a joint statement of intent.
Climate change requires action ASAP
Bill Nelson, who is the NASA administrator, declared as quoted by SpaceNews.com:
Climate change is an all-hands-on deck, global challenge that requires action now,
This agreement will set the standard for future international collaboration, providing the information that is so essential for tackling the challenges posed by climate change and helping to answer and address the most pressing questions in Earth science for the benefit of the United States, Europe, and the world.
However, it won’t be the first time when NASA and the ESA will work together for addressing environmental issues. It also happened before, and a great example is the Copernicus Sentinel-6 programme in which the sea level rise was measured by satellites.
The Sentinel-6 program involves two identical satellites to be deployed five years apart from one another. One satellite is known as Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, and it was launched last year in November. Sentinel-6B is the other satellite, and it shall be launched in 2025.
Scientists from both NASA and the ESA will continue to be pretty busy in the following months, and we are foreseeing a bright future for the two space agencies.
