NASA Taps Maxar to Integrate, Launch Space-Based Pollution Monitoring Instrument

Maxar Technologies (NYSE: MAXR) has been selected to integrate, launch and operate a space-based instrument built to help NASA scientists monitor air quality and measure pollutants across North America.

The company said Monday that it aims to send the agency’s Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution spectrometer to geostationary orbit with a 1300-class satellite to perform hourly assessments of pollution throughout the continent during daytime. TEMPO is UV-visible and intended to measure the amount of sunlight moving between Earth and its atmosphere to support pollution forecasting.

Megan Fitzgerald, senior vice president and general manager of Maxar’s space solutions business, said the company has more than 50 years of satellite development experience and has supported the production of eight NASA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite Program satellites.

The TEMPO mission is scheduled to launch by 2022 and seeks to facilitate air quality data analysis at the Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other research organizations.

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