[GLIMS] In Memoriam, our friend, ASTER VNIR

[Jeffrey Kargel]

Dear GLIMS colleagues,
I have sad news about a loved one (machine). ASTER's VNIR has shut down since May 11 and is not expected to recover. It is an electrical problem on the spacecraft, as the messages from Leon Maldonado indicate. TIR is still operable.

Fortunately the world has launched many other Earth observing missions. Given the historical and ongoing (until May 11) role that ASTER VNIR played with GLIMS and glacier studies, landslide studies, glacier lake and outburst flood research, and earthquake impact investigations, it is a sad occasion, but the data legacy (ASTER's memoirs) survives.

Anyway, it was initially a 5-year mission, which then went on and on for nearly a quarter of a century; that was like the fictional Starship Enterprise's 5-year mission, which was extended over the decades; however, Terra/ASTER  explored only one strange and wondrous world, a world that just could not be better for human habitation and diverse life and wildly varying conditions amongst the hot deserts, tundra landscapes, forests, cities, farmlands, grasslands, oceans, rivers, deltas, mountains, polar caps, glaciers, sea ice, snow fields, lakes, clouds, and volcanoes... alas, from here on, our planet is only as wonderful as we can keep it, or as wonderful as it can be despite us.

ASTER SWIR and VNIR and all of you working with those instruments' data did so much to help humans understand the dynamics of glaciers in the world, their roles as natural reservoirs, in causing disasters, as signposts of climate change, and simply their innate beauty and their insistent exclamation of borderlessness to people who sometimes imagine themselves to be different and demarcated as separate from their neighbors.

With ASTER, we made a difference, and we brought scientific and public understanding of glaciers like never before.

Cry some tears, and cry in joy for what ASTER was and the legacy of its data. That data legacy is still golden. Use the data in the same ways as always and in new ways, and learn more than you thought possible, and inform the world​ about what you learn.

And remember, TIR is still going.

Thank you METI/Japan, NASA and other U.S. agencies (USGS, others) for your gift of ASTER and Terra, and thank you to all the nations and individuals, ESA and other agencies who have contributed to ASTER data analysis, and those who have personally helped me with ASTER usage.

--Jeff Kargel


________________________________
From: Maldonado, Leon (US 329A) <leon.maldonado.jr at jpl.nasa.gov>
Sent: Monday, May 13, 2024 11:09 PM
To: Jeffrey Kargel <jeffreyskargel at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] ASTER TIR Only Mode (moving forward)

Hi Jeff,

At this point of the mission and the particular hardware in question, I do not expect there to be any hope for VNIR.  This does affect the wide angle pointing used for some of the GLIMS targets as well as any of the urgent requests that relied on a quick observation in VNIR-Only mode.  We’ll definitely be updating status at the next team meeting in September.

Leon…

_______________________

On May 13, 2024, at 16:01, Jeffrey Kargel <jeffreyskargel at hotmail.com> wrote:

Leon,
Thank you for the update. I am sad that VNIR now is disabled. Is there any realistic hope that the problem will be resolved and VNIR can renew operations?
--Jeff
________________________________
From: Maldonado, Leon (US 329A) <leon.maldonado.jr at jpl.nasa.gov>
Sent: Monday, May 13, 2024 10:01 PM
To: Jeffrey Kargel <jeffreyskargel at hotmail.com>
Subject: ASTER TIR Only Mode (moving forward)

Hi Jeff,

As of 11-May, Terra spacecraft has experienced a problem in it’s ability to properly transmit power from the the solar arrays to the spacecraft batteries resulting in difficulty ensuring a full barttery charge along with inability to maintain proper battery temperatures.  As a result, ASTER (for its part) will need to turn-off the VNIR instrument to reduce the power load on the Terra spacecraft.  Moving forward ASTER will only collect TIR data in its respective day mode therefore GLIMS planning and all other data requests will only be collected in TIR-Only mode.

Let me know if you have any other questions,

Leon…

______________________________
Leon Maldonado
ASTER Project Science Coordinator
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Earth & Space Science Div.
Email: leon.maldonado at jpl.nasa.gov
______________________________

______________________________
Leon Maldonado
ASTER Project Science Coordinator
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Earth & Space Science Div.
Email: leon.maldonado at jpl.nasa.gov
______________________________

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