Image: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center [CC BY 2.0], via Flickr
Europe, United States and Japan partner on platform recording Covid-19 effects on water, air and climate
The European Space Agency has teamed up with the United States’ NASA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency to map the effects of Covid-19 lockdowns on the Earth’s atmosphere and resources.
The Covid-19 Earth Observation Dashboard, which uses satellite data from the three agencies, will monitor changes to air and water quality, climate change, economic activity and agriculture, the agencies announced on 25 June.
“We are making sure that our Earth observation programmes deliver their full potential to society, and in doing so, are helping humanity navigate through this crisis with more accurate information at its disposal”, said ESA director for Earth observation Josef Aschbacher.
Separately, on 23 June ESA and France’s CNES National Centre for Space Studies launched the French European Space Education Resource Office. It joins ESA’s Esero network, which is active in 17 other ESA member states. The office supports science and technical education by providing teacher training and opportunities for students, such as interdisciplinary school projects.