Overview
- Each mission’s development cost excludes launch and targets a launch date no earlier than 2030, according to NASA.
- STRIVE will use sidelooking infrared limb-viewing instruments to produce more than 400,000 atmospheric profiles per day, supporting ozone and pollution tracking and improving longer-range weather forecasts.
- EDGE will deploy the first global satellite imaging laser altimeter, making over 150,000 measurements per second to map surface elevation with centimeter-scale precision for ice, forests, coastlines and related hazard applications.
- The selections come from NASA’s Earth System Explorers program, where STRIVE and EDGE were named finalists in May 2024 in line with National Academies Decadal Survey priorities.
- Congress funded NASA science at about $7.25 billion for the current fiscal year, a level some scientists cite as enabling NASA to proceed with both missions.