NASA's Earth Venture Suborbital program is gearing up for a new phase, with six projects set to mobilize hundreds of scientists and pilots from NASA, the U.S. Navy, universities, and other institutions over the next several years. These missions, designed to be nimble and high impact, will deliver science that benefits communities in the United States and beyond. From the Arctic fringes to farm country, these projects will explore a range of topics, including landslides in Alaska, air quality in Atlanta, and fire clouds out West. One of the most intriguing projects is the Inject Smoke and PYRocumulonimbus Experiment (INSPYRE), which will chase towering 'fire clouds' generated by extreme wildfires and measure them in real-time. This will help scientists forecast these dangerous storms in the future. Another fascinating project is the FarmFlux mission, which will deploy sensors to measure agricultural emissions and their impact on human health, global climate, and stratospheric ozone. The Hemispheric Airborne Measurements of Air Quality (HAMAQ) mission will explore the differences in air quality between Atlanta and Mexico City, using two aircraft at different altitudes to measure fine particle and gaseous pollutants. The Snow4Flow campaign will measure and model the retreat of glaciers in the far north, using a modernized WWII-era aircraft with a scanning laser altimeter and two custom radars. Finally, the Frontlines of Rapidly Transforming Ecosystems (FORTE) project will study how rivers, lagoons, and estuaries across Alaska's North Slope interact with the Arctic Ocean, using a combination of optical and radar measurements from satellites, planes, high-tech research vessels, drones, and underwater autonomous systems. These projects represent a significant step forward in our understanding of the Earth's systems and their impact on our world.
