ATom

Synonyms
Atmospheric Tomography Mission
NASA's World Tour of the Atmosphere Reveals Surprises Along the Way

Two thirds of Earth's surface are covered by water — and two thirds of Earth's atmosphere reside over the oceans, far from land and the traditional ways that people measure the gases and pollutants that cycle through the air and around the globe. While satellites in space measuring the major gases can close some of that gap, it takes an aircraft to find out what's really happening in the chemistry of the air above the oceans. That's where NASA's Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission comes in.

NASA’s flying laboratory seeks to understand atmosphere

A suite of scientists are zig-zagging across the globe in a flying laboratory, a DC-8 research plane retrofitted to gulp the air we breathe. Soaring from the Arctic to Antarctica on flights crammed with valves, funnels and testing equipment, scientists from NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View and other labs capture greenhouse gases and gather data about pollution in Earth’s atmosphere. The final leg of the four-part expedition of the Atmospheric Tomography Mission, also known as ATom, will take off from Palmdale Thursday.

ATom 04/11/18 Mission Daily Schedule

Wednesday, 4/11 Accomplishments
Weather brief
Flight planning meeting
Instrument flight preparations

Thursday, 4/12 Plans
06:00    a/c access
07:30    preflight briefing in lab
08:30    door closed
09:00    take-off

Styrofoam coffee cups are no longer being provided on the a/c
You must bring your own cup and it must have a lid
Make sure to use the headsets to save your ears
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