199 more likely to be affected by air pollution because they tend to live closer to some of the biggest sources.” Research has used satellite observations of nitrogen dioxide to identify disparities in cities, showing that higher fossil fuel emissions occur in low-income and nonwhite communities. Critically, TEMPO can provide data in such high spatial resolution that it’s possible to spot the actual sources behind these disparities. By combining its readings with data from ground-based monitors and comparing the results against health records, epidemiologists can learn what volumes and mixtures of pollutants are linked with certain health problems, including pregnancy complications and cancers. By tracing pollution back to its sources—and mapping its impacts on health over time—TEMPO’s scientists hope the data could lead to policies that save lives, improve economic productivity, and reduce health-care costs and inequalities. When TEMPO’s first images emerged in August 2024, NASA administrator Bill Nelson hailed the project for its potential to enhance awareness of deadly pollution and help combat it. “Neighborhoods and communities across the country will benefit from TEMPO’s game-changing data for decades to come.” Launching a New Venture It was TEMPO’s principal investigator, Kelly Chance, who in 1985 first proposed with several European colleagues the advance in space-based spectroscopy—using ultraviolet and visible light—that would lead to the mission’s powerful sensor. And TEMPO represents more earthly breakthroughs too: It’s the first instrument in NASA’s Earth Venture program, which is focused on innovative “science-driven, competitively selected, low-cost missions.” The agency gave TEMPO the green light in 2013, and construction began at Ball Aerospace (now BAE Systems) in Boulder, Colorado, with a launch target of 2018. After a series of delays, the instrument was sent aloft on April 7, 2023, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, attached to Intelsat 40e, a communications satellite built by Maxar. NASA said it expected total spending for the project to reach about $210 million. The mission itself was only funded to last 20 months after its commissioning phase. But Liu said the team is now working with NASA to extend the mission as part of a normal extension review process; Intelsat has told the space agency it intends to keep TEMPO’s host satellite in orbit for as long as 15 years. “Hopefully, we should be able to operate for 10 to 15 years, as long as the instrument is working,” Liu said. Growing Need for Better Air Quality Awareness In many ways, the decades-long fight to improve US air quality, ignited by the passage of amendments in 1970 to the Clean Air Act, has been a resounding success story. But even before last summer, improvements in US air quality started to plateau. Wildfires, which are becoming more frequent and more intense due to extreme weather, appear to be the main reason for this reversal, thanks to fine particulate matter and higher ozone pollution. Ozone pollution, which often spikes after rush hour, has remained stubbornly high in some places, Safeguarding Habitats and Wildlife Barry Lefer, tropospheric composition program manager in the Earth Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, speaks during a briefing on NASA’s TEMPO, Tuesday, March 14, 2023, at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. (Photo by Joel Kowsky, courtesy of NASA)
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