The US space agency NASA and Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) are partnering to investigate the health impacts of air pollution in the world’s most populated cities.
Key points
- They will build and launch the Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) missions, NASA announced on March 8, 2023.
- The three-year mission will focus on 11 primary target areas: Los Angeles, Atlanta, Boston, Rome, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Barcelona, Spain, Beijing, Johannesburg, New Delhi, Taipei, Taiwan and Tel Aviv.
- MAIA is a state-of-the-art satellite instrument producing data that will be used in health studies to examine the health effects of various types of air pollution.
- The MAIA mission will collect and analyse data from the observatory, sensors on the ground and atmospheric models.
- Its measurements of sunlight reflecting off airborne particles will help researchers determine the abundance, size and optical properties of certain pollutants in the atmosphere.
