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EMIT in Testing

Source:  Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Published: October 10, 2022

Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in southern California prepare NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) instrument for thermal vacuum environmental testing, which exposes the instruments avionics to the full range of temperatures it will encounter in orbit – from about 121 degrees Celsius to -157 degrees Celsius.

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A view of NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) telescope and imaging spectrometer, in a clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California.
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A closeup of the EMIT telescope and spectrometer in a clean room.
EMIT Telescope and Spectrometer
This image shows the first measurements taken by EMIT on July 27, 2022, as it passed over Western Australia. The image at the front of the cube shows a mix of materials in Western Australia, includ...
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This image shows the first measurements taken by EMIT on July 27, 2022, as it passed over Western Australia. The image at the front of the cube shows a mix of materials in Western Australia, including exposed soil (brown), vegetation (dark green), agricultural fields (light green), a small river, and clouds. The rainbow colors extending through the main part of the cube are the spectral fingerprints from corresponding spots in the front image.
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Engineers and technicians at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California attach NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) telescope and imaging spectrometer to prepa...
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Four technicians standing around EMIT as it's lifted and moved for integration with the spectrometer and telescope.
EMIT Integration
Engineers and technicians at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in southern California prepare NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) instrument for full instrument integ...
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A photo of an engineer in a 'bunny suit' (white protective gear) preparing the EMIT instrument for testing.
EMIT preparation for integration and testing
The radiator and enclosure panel elements of the heat rejection system of NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) instrument in its vibration environment test configuration in...
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A photo of EMIT in an environmental test lab, in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
EMIT Integrated
Engineers and technicians at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California prepare NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) instrument for full instrument integration...
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A photo of five technicians standing around the EMIT instrument outside of a thermal vacuum chamber. One technician is holding an emergency stop mechanism.
EMIT testing preparation
Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California with the Optical Bench Assembly of NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) instrument.
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Two technicians working with the EMIT instrument while two others stand behind them.
EMIT integration preparation
EMIT, the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation, was built by scientists to understand how dust affects the climate. The instrument’s primary mission is to map the prevalence of key miner...
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A recording of a teleconference for media to go over EMIT's methane measuring capabilities.
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A video covering EMIT's launch and early post-launch activities, including first light data.
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A video depicting EMIT's launch and post-launch procedures, from docking to the International Space Station (ISS), to the robotic hands moving it into place, to it powering on and taking the first data samples.
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An at-a-glance overview of the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) mission.
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An at-a-glance overview of the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) mission.
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An animation depicting EMIT's installation onto the International Space Station (ISS).
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An animation depicting EMIT's installation onto the International Space Station (ISS).
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B-roll, animations, and soundbites for media and public use. Soon to be operating from the International Space Station, NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) mission will co...
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A reel of animations, videos, and soundbites for public use about the EMIT mission.
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Surface dust storm at science experiment base camp for FRontiers in dust minerAloGical CoMposition and its Effects upon climaTe (FRAGMENT) in M´Hamid, Morocco (September 2019)
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A video panning across a dust storm, showing an instrument tent
Mineral dust storm in Morocco September (2019)
Mineral dust storm in Morocco 2019 showing mineral dust emitted into the atmosphere.  EMIT will measure the Earth’s arid land dust source regions to enable new modeling and understanding of the Ear...
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A dust storm approaches, while one of the team members runs toward the camera.
A person running from a surface dust storm in M´Hamid, Morocco (September 2019)
Mineral dust storm in Morocco 2019 showing mineral dust emitted into the atmosphere.  EMIT will measure the Earth’s arid land dust source regions to enable new modeling and understanding of the Ear...
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A video of a dust storm approaching ground-based instruments in a test.
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