[GLIMS] In Memoriam, our friend, ASTER VNIR

Tue May 14 10:36:15 MDT 2024

Thank you for sharing this sad news Jeff.

I can only deeply thank everyone who made this unique 24-year long 
stereo (3N/3B) coverage of glaciers possible (importantly, with the 
right gain settings!).

11 May 2024: the day we lost a unique ability to monitor the Earth's 
elevation on a global scale and a regular basis (very high resolution 
cannot really do that). Let's hope that other missions will take up this 
crucial task in the (near) future.

Le 14/05/2024 à 18:09, Jeffrey Kargel a écrit :
>
>
> 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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