Our newest eye in the sky, NASA'S Earth-observing satellite, NPP, is up and running and taking beautiful shots. The Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) captured the high-resolution image above as its orbit Eastern North America. The image spans all the way north from Canada's Hudson Bay to south past Florida to the northern coast of Venezuela.
The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project or NPP was launched back on October 28th from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The satellite has 4 other instruments in addition to the VIIRS . The VIIRS is the largest instrument on board weighing in at over 550 pounds. The satellite will orbit the earth at an altitude of 512 miles as it hurtles through space at 16, 640 miles an hour.
NPP will monitor our planet's climate and help fill in the gaps on long-term patters to better assess climate change. Data acquired from NPP will also help meteorologists make better short-term forecasts. NASA is planning on a five year life span for NPP as it gathers measurements of seas surface temperatures, land surface vegetation and atmospheric ozone levels. For more on NPP and its mission, check out the video below from NASA.
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