A new satellite, currently residing on the International Space Station and scheduled for deployment in January, will measure and map the urban heat island effect of seven U.S. cities.
Arizona State University students built a satellite named CubeSat that launched this month into space on an Antares rocket.
Ian James reports on the recent launch of the satellite, known as CubeSat, which measures only 12 inches long by 4 inches wide and weighed 8.6 pounds. Cubesat was engineered to capture block-by-block, infrared images of Phoenix and six other U.S. cities. The resulting data on heat trends "could help urban planners design cooler cityscapes to withstand the effects as the world continues to heat up due to the burning of fossil fuels," according to the article.
"Four years ago, the students wrote a proposal to build the satellite and obtained $200,000 in NASA funding," explains James of how the project came to be. "A total of about 80 undergraduate students took part in the project. Many of them spent long hours designing the spacecraft, piecing together the components, testing its systems, and writing code to make it all work."
"In addition to focusing on Phoenix, the plan is for the satellite to gather thermal images of Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Baltimore and Minneapolis," adds James, who also provides details of how the new data will be used to create new forms of climate mapping for the cities under study.
FULL STORY: Satellite built by students soars to space on mission to map heat in Phoenix, other cities
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City of Kissimmee - Development Services
City of Kissimmee - Development Services
Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
Park City Municipal Corporation
National Capital Planning Commission
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This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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