Since end of August, 2018, the imaging spectrometer “DLR Earth Sensing Imaging Spectrometer” (DESIS) is integrated into the “Multi-User System for Earth Sensing” (MUSES) installed on the International Space Station ISS, which also marks the start of the commissioning phase. After commissioning phase, the data will be available for scientific purposes under certain restrictions. This presentation informs about available data products, the requirements to access these products and the data access process. L1B (at sensor radiance), L1C (georeferenced after L1B) and L2A (reflectance after L1C) products are generated and delivered to the DESIS science users. Further, different acquisition modes are available: 1) Image Strip Mode is the standard measurement for earth observation and 2) BRDF Mode (Bi-directional Distribution Function) can be used to generate image data from the same area on ground seen at different observation angles (acquisitions up to 3 images at different observations angles e.g. 15° forward, nadir, 15° backward are possible). The talk further informs about the specific latitude dependent orbit requirements. The irregular acquisition possibilities allow acquiring data at different sun-target-sensor geometries and open up new possibilities for data evaluation. Finally, the potential of common data acquisitions of all ISS Earth observing instruments such as NASA’s Lidar instrument GEDI or the thermal ECOSTRESS mission and the emerging initiative to coordinate this, will be presented.

The Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) is a German spaceborne science mission that aims at characterizing the Earth’s environment on a global scale.
Equipped with a hyperspectral imager (HSI) as a single payload, the satellite is capable of measuring the solar radiance reflected from Earth’s surface in a continuous spectrum reaching from 420nm to 2450nm. The spectrum range is furthermore divided into VNIR and SWIR, achieving a spectral sampling of 6.5nm and 10nm, respectively. The EnMAP swath of 30km is sampled in spatial direction with 30m.

In this proceeding, we give a mission overview and present its current status. The mission is in Phase D. For the space segment, qualification on unit level has been performed and almost all flight sub-units have been delivered. The instrument optical unit has been integrated and is approaching its environmental test campaign which is planned to start this summer. In parallel, the platform is in its last stages of integration. The ground segment is currently closing out its subsystem interface testing in the integration environment and moving to the operational environment in the summer of this year.

The EnMAP launch is planned for late 2020.

Mineral dust emitted into the atmosphere under high wind conditions is an important element of the Earth system. Mineral dust impacts direct and indirect radiative forcing, weather, atmospheric chemistry, cryosphere melt, surface hydrology, and the biogeochemistry of ocean and terrestrial ecosystems, and can be a hazard to human populations. The Earth’s mineral dust cycle consists of source, transport, and deposition phases. Surface mineral dust source composition knowledge is required for initialization of Earth System Models to accurately simulate the dust cycle to investigate and understand impacts on the Earth system. Today, detailed composition of the Earth’s mineral dust source regions is uncertain. The Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation EMIT is planned to measure the Earth’s mineral dust source regions from the International Space Station. EMIT will use imaging spectroscopy spanning the visible to short wavelength infrared spectral region to measure the arid land dust source regions of the Earth. The spectroscopically derived mineral composition from EMIT measurements will be used to improve the dust source region initialization of modern Earth System Models. These models will be used to investigate the impact of direct radiative forcing in the Earth system that depends strongly on the composition of the emitted mineral dust aerosols. These new measurements and related products will be used to address the EMIT science objectives and made available to the science community for additional investigations. We present an overview of the EMIT project, objectives, planned analyses, and expected data products.