EDGE aims to expand global coverage of vegetation and dense mapping around the edges of ice sheets and sea ice packs, including Earth’s polar regions. To achieve this global coverage, Lanteris Space Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intuitive Machines, expects to build, integrate and deliver EDGE to space on its Lanteris 500™ series spacecraft.
The EDGE team is comprised of 25 scientists and engineers from around the world. In addition to Fricker, leadership includes deputy PI John Armston from the University of Maryland, and Instrument PI Bryan Blair and Project Scientist Scott Luthcke from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Scientists from the University of Maryland, U.S. Forest Service, George Mason University, Boise State University, U.S. Geological Survey, Bristol University, UCLA, National University of Singapore, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institution round out the team for terrestrial ecosystem structure, while the ice elevation team features scientists from the University of Washington, University at Buffalo, Colorado School of Mines, the Australian Antarctic Division and Fricker’s alma mater, the University of Tasmania.
With this selection, the mission will advance to the next phase of development. Each mission will be subject to confirmation review in 2027, which will assess the progress of the missions and the availability of funds.
For more information about NASA’s Earth System Explorers Program, visit: https://explorers.larc.nasa.gov/2023ESE/.
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