You know, when we think about understanding Earth's
really wild weather patterns, most of us probably
picture looking up, right? Yeah, up at the sky,
tracking clouds, feeling the wind. Exactly. Observing
the rain. But what if the real secret, the key
to cracking those incredibly complex atmospheric
puzzles isn't about gazing upwards from, you
know, our backyard? What if it's looking down?
Right. Looking down from space. It sounds a bit
counterintuitive, maybe? A little, yeah. But
there's this surprisingly profound and honestly
absolutely critical link between aerospace, all
those innovations, and the everyday weather forecast
we all check on our phones. It's a completely
different viewpoint, isn't it? It offers a level
of data observation that you simply can't get
from the ground. Exactly. Imagine seeing entire
storm systems developing and moving across whole
continents. Wow. Or observing that intricate
dance of atmospheric currents, ocean dynamics.
You're a global sentinel, truly. The higher we
go, the more detailed, the more holistic our
understanding becomes of our own planet's climate
systems. They're so delicate. And that kind of
groundbreaking exploration is exactly what we're
embarking on today, right here on the Meteorology
Matters podcast. Our deep dive today, it's centered
on a truly historic moment, one that beautifully
weaves together a lifelong personal dream with
Well, crucial scientific advancement. And that's
the journey of Deborah Martirell. Yes, set to
become the first meteorologist to travel into
space. So we're going to unpack her incredible
path, the challenges she overcame, and then crucially,
we'll delve into how observing our planet from
orbit is fundamentally revolutionizing our grasp
of weather and climate right here on Earth. It
really is a story of perseverance, passion. and
a real shift in how we approach meteorology.
It is. And what's really striking about Deborah's
story, I think, is that it's not just about her
own achievement, which is monumental, obviously.
Oh, huge. But it's also about the direct, tangible
impact this kind of experience and all the ongoing
space -based research has on our daily lives.
Right. This work influences everything. from
how accurate your local storm warning is to the
big global models that help us understand and
respond to climate change. So let's pull back
the curtain. Let's start with the trailblazing
path of Deborah Martirell herself. We're talking
about a Puerto Rican journalist, a meteorologist
with over three decades of experience. 30 years,
yeah. A long distinguished career already. But
what really sets her journey apart is that this
space thing. It isn't just some recent ambition.
She's talked about how traveling to space, becoming
an astronaut, has been a dream she's held onto
since she was a little girl. Can you imagine
carrying that dream, nurturing it, for decades?
It's profoundly inspiring, really. She often
talks about how, as a kid, you know, she'd say
she wanted to be an astronaut. And people would
just laugh or dismiss it. Yeah, dismiss it as
a joke. Or even worse, they'd tell her flat out,
that's not a job for women. So disheartening.
Yet here she is, 54 years old, and she's seeing
this extraordinary dream actually become reality.
It's way more than just a personal win, isn't
it? It's such a powerful testament to the idea
that age is just. It's no barrier, not when it
comes to achieving these deep, long -held dreams.
Her persistence just speaks volumes. And her
message really hits home, doesn't it? Don't let
anyone tell you that you can't do what you want
to do in life. You can achieve anything you want.
That's powerful. Especially when you think about
her path. Yeah. It wasn't exactly a straight
line from the news desk to forecasting hurricanes.
Not at all. Her career path is quite something.
A real testament to adaptability and passion,
I think. Definitely. She started out studying
communication and journalism. University of Puerto
Rico, Rio Piedras campus. Right. Then, fresh
out of university, 1992, she jumps into media,
reporter, producer for WKAQ Radio Reloy, a really
high -energy news station. And then TV? Yeah,
just two years later, makes the leap to television,
WAPI television, as a reporter, covering all
sorts of stories. So she was already deep in
the media world, a seasoned journalist. What
was it? What was that pivotal moment that made
her shift like her whole career direction towards
meteorology? visceral experience that really
reshaped her focus. It was her coverage of Hurricane
George's back in 1998. Ah, George's. I remember
that one. Devastating. Absolutely. And later,
Tropical Storm Gene, too. Being right there on
the ground, witnessing the raw power of those
storms. Seeing the effects on communities. Exactly.
It made her realize just how immensely important
accurate, accessible climate coverage really
is. That experience just solidified her resolve.
you know, to dive deeper into the science. So
that's when she decided to study it formally.
Yes. That led her to pursue a major in climate
coverage at the University of Mississippi. That
was the key decision. It set her on that specific
path to becoming the, well, the respected meteorologist
she is today. A real aha moment, born out of
crisis. Pretty much. And now she's chief meteorologist
and science reporter for TeleOne's and UNO radio
group. Known for her ability to take really complex
weather stuff, scientific data. Yeah. dense stuff.
And just translate it, make it understandable,
relevant for everybody. That's a special skill,
especially when it affects people's safety. What
it really is, communication is key in meteorology.
And alongside that, her training for space, equally
impressive, quite a feat. Tell us about that,
the POSSUM project. Right, POSSUM stands for
Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere.
It's this highly specialized program run by the
International Institute of Astronautical Sciences.
Okay. It's an international nonprofit focused
on suborbital research. And Possum isn't just
about giving people a ride, it actually trains
civilian scientists. prepares them to conduct
real research during those brief space flights.
Though it's serious science. Very serious. Yeah.
She mentioned the training involved an incredibly
intense week right before the flight. Constant
monitoring, lots of discussions. It's a big commitment,
not just to experience space, but to actually
contribute scientifically. And her personal motivation
for taking these classes on, I read she waited
until her daughters were grown up. Yeah, she
consciously waited until they entered adulthood.
which I think says so much about balancing family
life while still holding onto a really personal,
long -held goal. Truly decades in the making
for her. It is. And what's also fascinating is
just how much she was already involved with the
space community long before her own flight was
on the cards. Like what? Well, she was the first
Puerto Rican journalist to get access to the
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Texas. Wow,
JSC. Yeah. And get this, she had the chance to
interview Puerto Rican astronaut Joseph Acaba
while he was on the International Space Station.
No way. That's amazing. Let's talk about full
circle now that she's heading up there herself.
Right. And she hasn't just interviewed astronauts.
She's been on the ground covering major launches,
like the first Puerto Rican nanosatellite, Cunard
2. Oh, yeah. That was a big moment for Puerto
Rican science. Huge. And she covered Artemis
1 as well, that critical first step back towards
the moon. So her connection runs deep. It does.
And on top of all that, she serves as a solar
system ambassador for the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
JPL. So Noah's JPL, impressive. Her passion clearly
goes way beyond just weather. It's a real dedication
to space, to exploration. And this dedication,
this skill in bridging complex science with public
understanding It hasn't gone unnoticed. The awards.
Eight Emmy Awards for her environmental and space
reporting and two awards of excellence in science
reporting from the American Meteorological Society.
These really highlight her expertise, her unique
talent for making science compelling and understandable.
Okay, so we've got the dream, the winding path,
the intense training, the deep space connections,
all leading up to this moment. Let's get into
the nuts and bolts of the flight itself. When's
it happening? What's the mission? All right.
Her historic flight is scheduled for Sunday,
August 3rd. It'll launch from Blue Origin's private
spaceport out in West Texas, near Van Horn. Blue
Origin's New Shepard. That's the one. This specific
mission is designated NS34. It's the 34th overall
flight for the New Shepard vehicle, and importantly,
its 14th human flight. So they're building up
experience incrementally, but steadily. Exactly.
And she'll be part of that ongoing story of commercial
spaceflight. Now the flight itself is pretty
short, right? but incredibly impactful. Oh, absolutely.
Lift off to touchdown. The whole thing is maybe
10 to 12 minutes. Super intense. But in that
window. You get a few precious minutes of real
weightlessness and then that view, that utterly
breathtaking view of Earth curving away beneath
you against the blackness of space. For a meteorologist,
someone who spends their life looking at pressure
charts, wind patterns from the ground, to suddenly
be floating, looking down at those systems. With
no up or down yourself, it's got to be transformative,
a complete shift in perspective. I can only imagine.
And she's not going alone, right? Who else is
on NS34? She's joined by five others. It's quite
an eclectic crew, actually. You've got crypto
billionaire H .E. Justin Sun, real estate investor
and adventurer R .V. Bahal, a Turkish businessman
and photographer Gokhan Erdem, an English orphanage
runner named Lionel Pitchford. Wow. And an American
entrepreneur, James J. D. Russell. He's actually
flown before. This is his second time up. A very
diverse group sharing that moment. It really
reflects the changing face of space travel. And
it's worth clarifying something about the announcement.
Oh. Yeah, there was a little confusion initially.
Her news broke mainly on social media, and some
people linked it to Blue Origin's NS -31 mission.
That was the all -female crew that flew back
in April. 2025. Ah, okay. So that wasn't her
flight. Right. Her confirmed flight is definitely
NS 34, this mission, and her role as the first
meteorologist. That's her historic moment. Got
it. And there's a nice touch on the mission patch
I read. Yeah, it's really lovely. The NS 34 patch
actually features the shape of Puerto Rico. A
nod to her home. Exactly. A symbol of her roots.
And right in the center, there's a sun, a clear
nod to her background in meteorology. It's a
beautiful way to carry her identity, her profession
with her. That really is special. So beyond the
personal achievement, her mission has real scientific
weight too, right? She's not just a passenger.
Absolutely not. She's an active scientific contributor.
She's taking up a scientific experiment. The
details are still under wraps, apparently. OK.
And also, maybe the most touching part, she's
bringing a gravity indicator that was designed
by students from the technology club of Dr. Carlos
Gonzalez High School in Aguada, Puerto Rico.
That is amazing, directly involving the next
generation connecting their classroom right to
space. Exactly. So she's not just reaching for
her own dream. She's literally carrying the dreams,
the aspirations of young Puerto Rican girls and
women who look up at the stars. It's such a powerful
image, paving the way, showing what's possible.
Precisely. And her commitment goes further. She's
pledged to involve the nonprofits she works with,
making sure her journey plants seeds for the
future in Puerto Rico. So it's bigger than just
one flight. Much bigger. It's about sparking
that passion for science, for exploration, ensuring
her experience resonates and inspires a whole
new generation of scientists, engineers, explorers.
That ripple effect from one person's dream to
this global scientific and inspirational impact.
That's the thread connecting her flight to the
much bigger picture of watching our planet from
above. And that bigger picture, that larger tapestry,
is exactly what we need to weave together now.
Because Deborah Martirell's flight, historic
as it is, it's part of this much broader, ongoing,
massive effort to understand Earth from space.
The International Space Station, for example.
Orbiting, what, 250 miles up? Around that. It's
essentially become our most crucial celestial
weather station. It really has. The ISS gives
us this unparalleled vantage point for watching
and understanding Earth's climate systems. You
know, William Stefanov, a scientist at National
Aeronautics and Space Administration's Johnson
Space Center, he put it really well. What did
he say? Something like, if you don't have a good
understanding of how things might change, you
are in a very poor position to be able to handle
it when they do. That makes sense. Preparation.
Exactly. The station is basically our permanent
eye in the sky, collecting that baseline data
we absolutely need to prepare for the future.
And it's important we make that distinction right.
Between weather and climate. Weather is? Short
term. What's happening right now, tomorrow. Sunshine,
rain, wind. Right. What you see out the window.
And climate is? Long term. The bigger picture.
The patterns, the averages over decades, centuries
even. So why is the station particularly vital
for trekking climate? Is it just about being
up there for so long? That's a huge part of it,
yeah. Its longevity is its climate superpower.
Climate factors, by definition, need tracking
over long periods to see the trends, the changes.
And the ISS has been up there. Continuously occupied,
operating for over 20 years now. That's unprecedented
for a single orbiting platform. This consistent,
decades -long presence makes it this ideal, stable
platform for collecting those long -term, continuous
datasets. Which are essential for climate models.
Absolutely essential for understanding environmental
shifts, developing informed strategies. It's
building this permanent, high -res historical
record from space. A continuous, evolving picture
of our planet. Amazing. And beyond just being
up there for ages, what about its specific orbit?
How does that give it an edge over other satellites?
Ah, its orbit is incredibly strategic. It covers
something like 90 % of Earth's population, so
a near global perspective covering almost everywhere
people live. 90%. But here's the really unique
part compared to many other satellites. Its orbital
inclination, about 52 degrees. This means the
crew and the instruments see 16 sunrises and
sunsets every single day. 16? Why is that so
revolutionary? Well, think about most Earth -observing
satellites. They're usually polar -orbiting.
They cross the equator at roughly the same local
time each day. It's a consistent snapshot. Right.
Consistent but limited. The ISS, though, it's
collecting data over different places at all
sorts of different times of day or night as it
zips around. This gives you what Stefanov called
a fundamentally different data set. Because you
see things change over the course of a day. Exactly.
You capture those diurnal cycles, rapidly changing
things like maybe afternoon thunderstorm development,
that a fixed time observation would just completely
miss. It's like having loads of photographers
catching a scene at different moments, giving
you a much richer, more complete story. That's
fascinating, the implications of those 16 daily
passes. Okay, let's dive deeper into the actual
instruments, what's bolted onto the station,
actively monitoring our climate. Let's start
with something fundamental. the carbon cycle.
So critical for life and for climate change.
Absolutely. OK, one of the real game changers
is OCO3. Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3. OCO3.
Now this isn't just counting molecules. OCO3
measures tiny variations in atmospheric CO2 with
incredible profusion. We're talking less than
a single part per million. How does it do that?
By analyzing sunlight reflections. How sunlight
bounces off Earth's surface and atmosphere. And
what's revolutionary is it's helping us solve
this huge puzzle. Where exactly is all that human
-generated CO2 going? We don't fully know. We
thought we had a decent idea. You know, forests,
oceans absorbing it fairly evenly. But OCO3 is
revealing surprising hot spots, regions of the
planet way more effective at soaking up carbon
than we realized, and others unexpectedly releasing
it. Wow. So it's reshaping our understanding
of the Earth's carbon budget. Fundamentally.
And that directly feeds into refining our climate
models. Incredible precision. What else helps
us understand the carbon cycle from up there?
OK, another key one is ECOSTRESS. That stands
for Ecosystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment
on Space Station. ECOSTRESS. Catchy. It focuses
on how plants respond to stress, particularly
water stress. It measures subtle temperature
changes in plants, which relates to water loss
from leaves, evaporation from soils. So it can
tell how thirsty plants are. Basically, yeah.
even before you see visual signs of drought.
This helps predict how ecosystems will cope with
water shortages and forms farming practices,
all tied to climate change impacts on food security.
Makes sense. And you mentioned forests earlier.
Right. That brings us to GEDI, the Global Ecosystem
Dynamics Investigation. This isn't just a camera.
GEDI uses LiDAR, basically. Lasers. Lasers from
space? Millions of laser pulses fire down at
Earth. They penetrate the forest canopy, bounce
back. allowing GEI to build these incredibly
precise 3D models of forests, layer by layer
from the treetop right down to the ground. Why
is that 3D view so important? Because it gives
us the most accurate measure ever of how much
carbon is actually stored in those forests. Not
just guessing based on area, but understanding
their actual structure, their density. This precision
is vital for knowing their role as carbon sinks
and how they might react to climate change. So
we're looking at CO2 in the air with OCO3, plant
health with EcoStress, and forest structure with
GDI. A really comprehensive picture. Any other
related research? Oh yeah, quite a few things
show the breath. There's the photobioreactor
experiment. Yeah, looked at using microalgae
to recycle carbon in life support systems for
future space missions. Could that help on Earth?
Potentially, yeah. Insights into how algae recycle
carbon in space could lead to new carbon recycling
tech down here. Maybe for industry. Interesting.
And there was Kuwait's experiment, E. coli C5.
Fascinating stuff. It looked at how microgravity
affects E. coli bacteria that were genetically
engineered to eat CO2. Bacteria that eat CO2.
Understanding how they behave in space could
maybe lead to new ways of removing CO2 from our
atmosphere. And even older instruments, like
HICO, the hyperspectral imager for the coastal
ocean, its images help develop ways to detect
harmful algal blooms. Which relates to ocean
carbon absorption. Exactly. These blooms affect
marine ecosystems and play a role in how much
carbon the oceans take up. It's all connected,
trying to grasp the whole delicate carbon balance.
It's truly holistic. Okay, moving beyond carbon.
What about the air itself? It's composition.
And the energy balance that drives everything.
The sun's energy coming in. Critical pieces,
absolutely. For atmospheric composition, instruments
like SAGE III, stratospheric aerosol, and Gas
Experiment III are vital. SAGE tracks ozone and
other key gases high up. Monitoring the ozone
layer recovery. Precisely. that mital shield
protecting us from UV radiation. SAGE monitors
how it's recovering after we ban CFCs, those
chemicals in old fridges and spray cans. It shows
us the long -term impact of our actions and how
the atmosphere heals. A positive story, hopefully,
and the energy coming in from the sun. That's
the starting point for all weather and climate,
right? That's where TSIS comes in, the Total
Solar Irradiance Sensor. TSIS. It continuously
monitors the total energy hitting Earth from
the sun. Seems simple, but it's fundamental.
Even tiny solar variations can have long -term
climate effects. And deploying TSIS quickly on
the station was crucial. Why quickly? Because
previous tracking instruments were facing potential
failure. Getting TSIS up there ensured we kept
the climate record continuous and accurate, preventing
damaging data gaps. That unbroken data chain
is vital for precise climate modeling. So TSIS
kept the energy budget record intact. OK, now
let's get to the stuff a meteorologist like Deborah
Martirell deals with daily. weather, storms,
those dramatic short -term events. How does the
station help track those? Right. For that, we
had ISS RapidScat. It worked by bouncing microwaves
off the ocean surface. Microwaves? Yeah. Analyzing
the scattered signal, let it measure ocean wind
speed and direction over huge areas. Absolutely
crucial for tracking and forecasting storms,
especially hurricanes, out over the open ocean
where we have less data. Chilling the gaps. Exactly.
It was specifically designed to fill a gap left
when a previous satellite failed. shows how agile
the station can be. It's data fed directly into
forecast models, improving storm warnings. Vital
for safety. What about clouds or other stuff
in the air, like dust or smoke? That was CATS,
the Cloud Aerosol Transport System. CATS use
LIDAR, light -based radar, essentially to measure
the vertical profile of clouds, dust plumes,
smoke from wildfires, other tiny particles called
aerosols. Why are those important? Because they
massively impact climate. They reflect or absorb
sunlight, affect temperature, even influence
how clouds form. Understanding them is key. And
lightning. Yes. LIS, the Lightning Imaging Sensor.
LIS detects lightning flashes all over the globe
day and night. From space. It has specialized
optical sensors. This data helps validate ground
-based and other space systems. And crucially,
it fills data holes, especially over oceans where
ground detection is sparse. Better lightning
data ultimately means better forecasts, better
severe storm warnings, enhanced safety. It's
literally shedding light on lightning. This paints
a picture of a truly active celestial weather
station. gathering all sorts of data, actively
probing the atmosphere, which leads us right
into decoding Earth's storms from above, because
the ISS is also key for studying weirder stuff
happening higher up, right, in the ionosphere,
things like TLEs. Transient luminous events.
Yeah. Yeah, they're spectacular, almost otherworldly
phenomena. Like what? Give me examples. OK, you
have things like blue jets. These are discharges
that shoot upwards in the tops of thunderclouds,
sometimes reaching way up into the stratosphere.
Upwards lightening. Kind of. Then there are sprites.
That stands for stratospheric mesospheric perturbations
resulting from intense thunderstorm electrification.
Okay, sprites. There are these colorful, fleeting
bursts of energy above storms, often red or orange,
very quick, like flashes. Wow. And then you have
ELVES, emissions of light and VLF perturbations
from EMP events. These are huge, massive glowing
rings in the upper atmosphere. They expand rapidly,
can be hundreds of miles across, triggered by
the electromagnetic pulse from intense lightning
blow. Blue jets, sprites, elves. Sounds like
fantasy. Doesn't it? Straight out of science
fiction. But beyond looking cool, why study them?
What's the practical point? Well, they're not
just pretty lights. These intense electrical
discharges can mess things up. They temporarily
ionize parts of the upper atmosphere, especially
the ionosphere's D region. And that causes...
Interference. It can disrupt critical radio signals,
air traffic control, military comms, maybe even
GPS navigation. Those signals rely on bouncing
off the ionosphere. If it's disturbed by a TLE...
the signal path changes. So potential communication
and navigation problems. Exactly. Understanding
where and when TLEs happen is becoming really
important for the safety and reliability of those
systems. And the challenge is they happen way
above the clouds, way above normal lightning,
super hard to see well from the ground. Which
is where the ISS comes in. Precisely. Its orbital
view is indispensable for studying these things.
So what key investigations have used the ISS
to look at TLEs? One of the big ones, hugely
productive, is ASIM. The Atmosphere -Space Interactions
Monitor. I assume. It's a sophisticated suite
of instruments mounted on the outside of the
station, just constantly staring down and collecting
high -res data on TLEs. And what's SM telling
us? It's giving scientists really crucial, unprecedented
insights into how powerful thunderstorms affect
Earth's atmosphere, right from the ground all
the way up to the edge of space. This feeds directly
into improving our weather and climate models
by refining how they handle atmospheric electricity.
Has it made specific discoveries? Oh yeah. SM
data definitely confirmed that those upward lightning
-like discharges from storm tops do create ELVAs,
those giant rings. That influences the ionosphere
and helps us understand both Earth weather and
space weather, how things like solar flares might
interact with our atmosphere. Okay. It's also
described the physics of corona discharges inside
thunderclouds. These are powerful, super short
electrical bursts happening right before or with
lightning. This data helps figure out how lightning
actually gets started, which is still a bit of
a puzzle. Really? We don't fully know how lightning
starts. The exact trigger mechanism is complex
and still debated. ASEM helps. And by combining
ASEM data with ground radar, scientists have
even pinpointed the exact height and shape of
those blue discharges, the blue jets. Critical
data for atmospheric physicists. Incredible detail
from orbit. Are there other ways they watch these
storms from the station? Yep. Another European
space agency project called Thor Davis used a
special high speed camera. High speed. Very high
speed. They mounted it to look through the windows
of a cupola. You know, that big bay window module?
Yeah, the observation deck. Right. This camera
could shoot at up to 100 ,000 frames per second.
Whoa! Yeah. Allowed them to capture the millisecond
-long evolution of TLEs in amazing detail. Proved
it's a really useful tool for watching severe
electrical storms from space. Might have other
uses for studying rapid atmospheric events, too.
Capturing things faster than blinking. And I
think you mentioned smaller satellites getting
involved, too. Yes, exactly. The Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency, JAXA, had the Light One CubeSat.
Brilliant example. CubeSat for lightning. For
something even more intense. Terrestrial gamma
ray flashes, or TGS. Yeah. These are incredibly
high energy bursts of radiation coming from thunderstorms.
Gamma rays. From storms. Is that dangerous? It
can be. They can expose aircraft, electronics,
even passengers to significant radiation doses
if they fly through one. LightOne used sensitive
detectors packed into a tiny satellite to spot
these TGFs. What's the goal? To compare the CubeSat
data with ground observations, build up better
maps of lightning and thunderstorms, especially
these high -energy events. And it shows the power
of CubeSat's smaller cheaper, faster to build
and deploy for specific science goals compared
to big traditional satellites. So from big external
instruments like ASIM, to cameras inside, to
tiny CubeSat, a whole range of tools watching
these powerful events. Which brings us nicely
to the human side of things, and these microsatellites.
It's not just automated instruments doing everything,
is it? Not at all. Astronauts themselves are
crucial observers, highly trained observers,
actually. Taking photos. Millions of them. They've
taken over four mil - million images of Earth
from space, with a 3 .5 million just from the
ISS alone. 4 million? Yeah. It's one of the longest
-running visual records we have of how Earth
has changed over time. Their photos add this
vital human perspective, often catching things
automated sensors miss or focusing on specific
areas of interest. It complements the sensor
data beautifully. So these aren't just pretty
pictures for Instagram, though they are often
stunning. They have real uses. Absolutely. Tons
of practical applications. Their use in studies
of urban night lighting helps understand population
density, energy use. OK. They're used to monitor
dynamic things like glaciers, tracking retreat
or advance, watching active volcanoes, tracking
eruption plumes and their atmospheric effects.
Wow. There was even a cool project called AMFS
used astronaut photos to help track bird migration
routes, see how changes along those routes might
be affecting the birds. That's amazing. Bird
watching from space. Kind of. And really crucially,
astronaut photos provide vital, sometimes real
-time support for disaster relief. How so? After
a hurricane or a big wildfire, these overhead
shots can give ground responders critical info
fast. Which way is the smoke plume heading? How
far has the flooding spread? Is that bridge still
standing in a remote area? It helps make the
response quicker and more effective. Real -time
intelligence from a human eye in space. Incredible.
And speaking of smaller contributions, let's
circle back to CubeSats, these little shoebox
-sized things. How do they fit into the big picture
of Earth observation? CubeSats are total game
changers, especially for testing new tech or
new climate science ideas quickly. How do they
get deployed? Pretty efficiently. They hitch
a ride up to the station with regular cargo,
astronauts prep them on board, then they get
deployed right out of the station's airlock into
low Earth orbit. Like little birds leaving the
nest. Exactly. Their huge value is they're super
accessible for smaller programs, universities,
different national aeronautics and space administration
centers. They're a fantastic stepping stone to
larger things. A lot for rapid testing, lower
costs, faster cycles for cutting edge research.
Democratizing space access, in a way. Can you
give some examples of climate -focused CubeSats
launched from the ISS? Sure. There was Nanorax
Min -XSS. A miniature X -ray solar spectrometer
designed to better understand solar X -rays and
how they impact Earth's upper atmosphere layers.
Which affects satellites and radio. Right. Then
there was DEWADA Plus One, a Philippine microsatellite
providing remote sensing data directly back to
the Philippines. Incredibly vital for them with
typhoons, heavy rains, helps with monitoring
and disaster prep. Direct local benefit. Definitely.
And ARP, the hyper angular rainbow polarimeter.
ARPA helped us better understand how clouds and
aerosols affect weather, climate, air quality.
It studied how sunlight interacts with these
particles from multiple angles. That data is
crucial for refining climate models and understanding
air pollution. Each little satellite adds unique,
valuable data. Tiny devices, big impact. And
it really does circle us back beautifully to
Deborah Martirell, doesn't it? Her mission, carrying
both that science experiment and the student
-designed gravity indicator, it perfectly blends
this human element with that microsatellite kind
of innovation. It really does. Her journey, it
promises not just to inspire so many people,
especially young women and girls in Puerto Rico
and everywhere, but also to directly contribute
to foster that next generation of weather and
space scientists. It's a powerful center. shows
how one person's dream can ignite broader science
and inspire innovators. What an extraordinary
journey we've traced today. Here on Meteorology
Matters, we've gone from a childhood dream all
the way to a pivotal scientific mission soon
heading beyond our atmosphere. Deborah Martirell's
historic flight, the first meteorologist in space.
It really highlights how our understanding of
Earth's atmosphere is constantly expanding, driven
by incredible research on platforms like the
ISS, reviewing secrets we just couldn't see from
the ground. And these insights we get from looking
back at our beautiful blue home from space, they
aren't just academic curiosities. They directly
impact our preparedness, our safety. They strengthen
our ability to tackle the huge environmental
challenges we face. from understanding storms
to predicting climate shifts. It really makes
you wonder, doesn't it? As we keep pushing further
into space, what new, maybe even more profound
perspectives will space keep offering us about
the air we breathe, the storms that shape our
world, the climate that defines our future? The
journey of discovery is definitely ongoing. It
really feels like it's just beginning sometimes.
And every step, especially a historic one, like
Deborah Martirell's flight. adds another crucial,
illuminating piece to that huge puzzle of understanding
our planet. Well, you can find more discussions
just like this one on the Meteorology Matters
podcast playlist over on YouTube. Just search
for Rob Jones Hurricane. And for even more insights
into the world of weather, you should definitely
follow meteorologist Rob Jones on Instagram.
His handle is Meteorologist. And also on TikTok
at TV Meteorologist. Thanks so much for joining
us for this deep dive into the cosmos and its
vital connection to our climate.