The event of ESA’s Earth Explorer FLEX mission has not too long ago handed a major milestone: the mission’s all-important, single instrument has been joined to its satellite tv for pc platform.
This delicate operation was carried out by spacecraft engineers at Thales Alenia Space in Cannes, France, following the supply of the instrument from Leonardo in Florence, Italy.
FLEX’s fluorescence imaging spectrometer is named FLORIS for brief and designed to map vegetation fluorescence across the globe and quantify photosynthetic exercise and plant stress.
Photosynthesis is among the most basic processes on Earth – important for sustaining life. Most individuals realize it because the mechanism that enables vegetation to develop by consuming carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. Nevertheless, few might realise that as vegetation photosynthesise, in addition they emit a really faint fluorescence sign.
Importantly, the sign, which is invisible to the bare eye, varies in response to environmental situations and the well being of the plant – and can be utilized to evaluate plant well being and stress.
With its FLORIS instrument, the FLEX mission will detect and measure this faint glow from house to supply higher perception into plant well being.
As prime contractor, Thales Alenia Area led the satellite tv for pc platform meeting, integration and take a look at marketing campaign, which befell in Thales’ cleanroom in Belfast, Northern Eire. Now that the platform and the FLORIS instrument have been built-in in Cannes, the following step is to hold out a last collection of assessments forward of the launch scheduled in 2026.
