The Nasa Earth Venture Instrument, Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (Emit)

ABSTRACT

The NASA Earth Venture Instrument mission, Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation ( EMIT), is planned for launch to the International Space Station on a SpaceX rocket in May of 2022. EMIT's science objectives are to reduce uncertainty in the direct radiative forcing effect of mineral dust in the Earth system today and assess future changes in the effect under a range of climate scenarios. The development of the EMIT imaging spectrometer instrumentation and other systems has proceeded successfully despite the severe impacts of the COVID pandemic. The status and plans for the imaging spectrometer, calibration, ground system, in-orbit checkout, and prime science measurement observation phase are reported.