{"id":8559,"date":"2026-03-03T20:28:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T20:28:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/ground_post\/nasas-er-2-aircraft-captures-moonlight-to-calibrate-space-sensors\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T20:28:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T20:28:34","slug":"nasas-er-2-aircraft-captures-moonlight-to-calibrate-space-sensors","status":"publish","type":"ground_post","link":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/ground_post\/nasas-er-2-aircraft-captures-moonlight-to-calibrate-space-sensors\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s ER-2 Aircraft Captures Moonlight to Calibrate Space Sensors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" id=\"single-blog-1203357\" data-content-type=\"blog-entry\" data-blog-name=\"science-news\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>A NASA instrument designed to measure the Moon\u2019s brightness to help satellite sensors make more accurate measurements completed a three-week mission on a high-flying plane on Feb. 5.<\/p>\n<p>NASA uses the Moon as a natural calibration source to improve the accuracy of space-based sensors. These sensors provide critical data to observe weather patterns, survey agriculture, and study the Earth\u2019s ecosystems \u2013 supporting decisions that affect everyday life. By measuring the Moon\u2019s brightness from near-space, scientists can ensure satellite instruments remain precise without adding costly onboard calibration equipment.<\/p>\n<p>The Airborne Lunar Spectral Irradiance, or\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/armstrong\/nasa-measures-moonlight-to-improve-earth-observations\/\" rel=\"noopener\">air-LUSI<\/a>, instrument flew over the West Coast on NASA\u2019s high-altitude ER-2 aircraft, based at NASA\u2019s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, transforming the plane into an airborne lunar observatory. The instrument was carried to an altitude of about 70,000 feet, above 95% of the Earth\u2019s atmosphere. The air-LUSI team has been operating missions to measure moonlight since 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Because the Moon\u2019s surface reflects light consistently and is unaffected by Earth\u2019s changing environment, moonlight is a good reference point for calibration. Unlike the Sun, the Moon\u2019s brightness is similar to Earth\u2019s, making it a better match for how satellite sensors are designed to operate.<\/p>\n<p>The air-LUSI project is a collaboration between NASA, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and McMaster University in Ontario.<\/p>\n<p>~<em>Jay Levine<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"mobile-credits blog-sidebar\">\n<div class=\"post-author\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ce0a319da5474ce754922fa466fa4134b65201985bc6ae807cd37369af5be284?s=200&amp;d=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.science.nasa.gov%2Fdynamicimage%2Fassets%2Fscience%2Fpsd%2Fsolar%2Fbosf%2Fimages%2Feditor-page-nasa-logo-250s.png%3Fw%3D250%26h%3D250%26fit%3Dclip%26crop%3Dfaces%252Cfocalpoint&amp;r=g\"\/><\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"March 2, 2026 9:02AM\">March 2, 2026<\/time><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<footer class=\"more-from-footer\">\n<h2 class=\"more-from-header\">More from The Latest in NASA Science News<\/h2>\n<\/footer>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/blogs\/science-news\/2026\/03\/02\/nasa-aircraft-calibrates-with-moonlight\/?rand=6382\" target=\"_blank\">Source link <\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A NASA instrument designed to measure the Moon\u2019s brightness to help satellite sensors make more accurate measurements completed a three-week mission on a high-flying plane on Feb. 5. NASA uses the Moon as a natural calibration source to improve the accuracy of space-based sensors. These sensors provide critical data to observe weather patterns, survey agriculture, and study the Earth\u2019s ecosystems&hellip;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":99034,"featured_media":8560,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"tags":[2028,2030,357,2027,2029,331,2031,391],"ground_category":[137,313],"class_list":["post-8559","ground_post","type-ground_post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-aircraft","tag-calibrate","tag-captures","tag-er2","tag-moonlight","tag-nasas","tag-sensors","tag-space","ground_category-1-grounds-science","ground_category-1-4-discover-saturn"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/assets.science.nasa.gov\/content\/dam\/science\/esd\/esnt\/AFRC2026-0012-420~orig.jpg\/jcr:content\/renditions\/cq5dam.web.1280.1280.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ground_post\/8559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ground_post"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ground_post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99034"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ground_post\/8559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8559"},{"taxonomy":"ground_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ground_category?post=8559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}