The CloudCT project's pioneering satellite, developed in collaboration with the Weizmann Institute of Science, the Technion, and the Center for Telematics in Germany, will test AI-based optical CT technology from space to map the internal structure of clouds.
The first tiny satellite of the Israeli-German research satellite network (CloudCT) has been built, tested and prepared for launch from California. The launch is expected this June. The success of this pioneering mission is expected to lead to the launch of 10 additional CloudCT satellites next year and to advance the study of clouds and their role in climate.
The satellite is the result of seven years of intensive joint research by Israeli and German scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science (led by Prof. Ilan Koren), the Technion (led by Prof. Yoav Schachner), and the Center for Telematics in Germany (led by Prof. Klaus Schilling). The current achievement was made possible thanks to the prestigious ERC Synergy research grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The international research group's discoveries regarding AI-based tomographic observation methods, cloud physics, and the advancement of satellite technology have been published in prestigious scientific journals.
"The mission focuses on studying in-depth small clouds, which are often not observed with current remote sensing technologies," says Prof. Ilan Koren, a world expert in atmospheric and climate research. "The mission addresses significant sources of uncertainty that currently limit long-term climate models and projections."
Autonomous satellite weighing 4 kg
After flight tests, this pioneering satellite will test its innovative sensing technology from orbit in space. The satellite, which weighs only about four kilograms, must autonomously tilt itself into specific cloud fields. "Precise alignment and coordination between ten tiny satellites in a space flight structure are significant challenges for such tiny guidance and control systems," explains Prof. Schilling, President of the Center for Telematics, who specializes in developing small satellites, "This is the key to autonomous structure flight."
The group has developed a completely new approach to observations, inspired by medical CT (computed tomography). It maps the internal properties and structure of clouds in 3D, including unprecedented measurements of the microphysics of cloud droplets. The approach uses AI and allows scientists to assess the reliability of the mapping. “Optical CT of clouds requires simultaneous imaging from many directions in space, with a unique camera,” says Prof. Yoav Shechner, an expert in computational photography, from the Andrew and Arne Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Technion. "The camera is sensitive to light polarization: polarization is invisible to the human eye but provides information about cloud droplets. The camera was developed specifically for CloudCT, and we will test its performance in space on an upcoming mission."
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