NASA Langley opens first new lab in nearly 30 years

Read more in the Daily Press about the Measurement Systems Lab, NASA Langley Research Center’s new, state-of-the-art research facility for developing, testing and implementing new sensor and instrument technologies, including the SAGE IV prototype.
Read more here. 

More on SAGE IV: 

The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment IV (SAGE IV) Pathfinder is the next generation in a line of instruments that have been monitoring stratospheric ozone, aerosols, and trace gases for over four decades. Over the years, these instruments have collected data on the decline of ozone in the Earth’s atmosphere and have hinted at a potential recovery in the ozone hole. The SAGE IV instrument will maintain the long-term data record of measurements monitoring the Earth’s atmosphere, but in an innovative and cost-efficient way.

Compared to the large SAGE III instrument making measurements from the International Space Station, the SAGE IV solar occultation imager will be the size of a large shoebox. The SAGE III/ISS instrument makes its occultation measurements by scanning the sun back and forth within a small field of view each time. With its simplified measurement technique and hardware, SAGE IV will have the capability to capture an image of the entire solar disk eliminating major technological and algorithmic challenges that were present in previous solar occultation instruments.

Photo Credit: David Bowman