ITT performs flight test of sensors to monitor global climate change

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., 13 June 2008.ITT Corp. announced the flight test of a suite of laser-based sensors and lidars to monitor global climate change.

Developed under a technology contract with NASA Langley Research Center, the sensors will provide all-seasons, all latitudes, and day/night regional monitoring. The sensor's data set will provide information on how carbon dioxide is emitted and absorbed, a key to measuring greenhouse gas.

"We need these kinds of technologies and strategies to help stabilize the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere," says Rob Mitrevski, vice president and director of Commercial and Space Science Programs for ITT Space Systems Division. "Our sensors and lidars have proven themselves through extensive aircraft-based flight programs to be ready for the next step -- which is space-based."

The NASA Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days and Seasons (ASCENDS) mission, on which the sensors and lidars would fly, is projected for launch in 2015.