NASA installs new instrument to measure incoming Sun energy

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Image Taken by NASA
Image Taken by NASA

New Delhi : NASA has installed a new instrument to measure the incoming Solar energy. Accordingly, it has fixed Total Irradiance Monitor aboard the International Space Station (ISS) that would possibly record the measurements of the Sun's incoming energy.

Also known as Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor (TSIS-1), the instrument is fully effective with all instruments gathering science data as of this March, NASA said.

Dong Wu, TSIS-1 project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland said, "TSIS-1 extends a long data record that helps us understand the Sun's influence on Earth's radiation budget, ozone layer, atmospheric circulation, and ecosystems, and the effects that solar variability has on the Earth system and climate change,"

TSIS-1 uses the Total Irradiance Monitor, one of two sensors onboard and is able to study the total amount of light energy released by the Sun.

The data delivered by the instrument will help scientists in better understanding Earth's primary energy supply. It will also provide relevant information to improve models suggesting the climate change in the Earth.

The second onboard sensor, called the Spectral Irradiance Monitor, measures the Sun's energy which is distributed over the ultraviolet, visible and infrared regions of light.

Experts say that it is important to measure the distribution of the Sun's energy as each wavelength of light act differently with the Earth's atmosphere. Peter Pilewskie, the TSIS-1 lead scientist at the University of Colorado Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in the US says “spectral irradiance measurements of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation are critical to understanding the ozone layer – Earth's natural sunscreen that protects life from harmful radiation. "All systems are operating within their expected ranges,"

It is with the help of NASA scientists and Space researchers that we are able to gather knowledge about our milky way. Till they come up with some more inventions, keep surfing other technology news.