NASA’s Glory Mission to Carry Names

Okay, how many times have you been sitting there reading stuff on your computer and learned about the opportunity to send your name into orbit on a spacecraft?  Well, sure there was one a few months back, and maybe another one a few years ago… but hey, my point is, here’s another chance–and nothing says “coolness to the max” like having your name on a spacecraft, right?  Darned right!  And, if thousands of us do it, it will be (in the immortal words of Arlo Guthrie) a movement.

The latest satellite-based list of names going into space is on Glory mission, which will be launched to help scientists measure aerosols — airborne particles — in our atmosphere.

Of course, we all know that changes in our climate are taking place. Understanding ALL the aspects of our atmosphere is important. You’ve heard of the greenhouse gases that are affecting our climate, and these are important. But, scientists say that the effects of aerosols could play a role in that change.

Glory will carry two scientific instruments, the Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor, or APS, and the Total Irradiance Monitor, or TIM, and two cameras that will be used to help identify clouds.  The APS instrument will be the main player in determining how and why aerosols affect our atmosphere. The TIM instrument will continue 30 years of measuring total solar irradiance, which is the amount of energy radiating from the Sun to Earth. Understanding the sun’s energy is an important key to understanding climate change on Earth.