ESA, NASA and JAXA invite the general public and media representatives to participate in an online media conference on Thursday, 25 June, at 09:00 EDT (15:00 CEST) where they will present a new dashboard that uses Earth observation data to show the impacts of COVID-19.
This new platform will combine data, technical knowledge and expertise of the three space agencies to strengthen our global understanding of the environmental and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Joint Earth observation data-driven dashboard
International collaboration among space agencies is central to the success of satellite Earth observation and data analysis. ESA, NASA and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have worked closely together to produce the ‘COVID-19 Earth Observation Dashboard’.
The dashboard will allow users to explore the environmental and economic indicators based on unique satellite data from the three agencies, and investigate how regional lockdowns and social distancing measures have affected Earth’s air, land and water. The platform will provide the possibility for users to explore individual countries and regions across the world and see how these indicators in specific locations have changed over time.
The dashboard will track key indicators of changes in air and water quality, climate, economic activity and agriculture. The dashboard will use data from NASA's Aura and OCO-2 satellites, JAXA’s GOSAT and ALOS-2 satellites, the Sentinel missions from the European Copernicus programme led by the European Commission, as well as nightlight maps using data acquired by the US Suomi NPP satellite.
Key speakers include ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes Josef Aschbacher, Associate Administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate Thomas Zurbuchen and JAXA’s Vice President and Director General Space Technology Directorate Koji Terada, as well as several subject experts.