Skip to main content

EMIT Launched to the International Space Station

The Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) mission will measure surface mineralogy and mineral dust of Earth's arid dust source regions.

NASA's Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT), a new space-based visible-to-short-wavelength infrared (VSWIR) spectrometer developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), was successfully launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on board the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, FL, on July 14, 2022. The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft successfully autonomously docked to the forward-facing port of the ISS on July 16.

EMIT is a state-of-the-art imaging spectrometer; it will measure surface mineralogy and mineral dust of the Earth's arid dust source regions. This will help achieve an important science objective to understand the current heating and cooling impacts of mineral dust emitted into the atmosphere and forecast trends of dust sources in the future.

The mission life expectancy is one year. During this time frame, the instrument will quantify the dust source regions that fall between 52 degrees south and north latitude during solar coverage only. More than one billion high-quality mineral composition observations are planned to enable the science objectives.

Image
Image Caption

This graphic depicts the dust source regions that EMIT will measure over the course of the mission. Credit: NASA JPL

Stay tuned for more information on new EMIT data products and resources available from NASA's Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC). In the meantime, listen to this episode from the USGS Eyes on Earth podcast to learn more about EMIT from several members of the EMIT science team.

Subscribe to the LP DAAC listserv by sending a blank email to lpdaac-join@lists.nasa.gov to be the first to learn about new information about EMIT in the upcoming months.

Additional information can be found on JPL's EMIT website.

If you have questions, please contact LP DAAC User Services.

Details

Last Updated

June 12, 2025

Published

July 18, 2022

Data Center/Project

Land Processes DAAC (LP DAAC)