NASA's next investigation to monitor climate change is heading to space station this week

NASA's next investigation to monitor climate change will be launching this week with a SpaceX rocket to its destination on the International Space Station (ISS). The Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) mission will fly aboard SpaceX's 25th commercial resupply services mission (CRS-25) to the orbiting laboratory on Thursday, July 14. 

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft will carry more than 5,800 pounds of cargo, including a variety of NASA investigations like EMIT, which will be the first instrument to use NASA-invented imaging spectroscopy technology to comprehensively measure the mineral composition of the Earth's arid land dust source regions, further advancing the agency's data contributions to monitoring climate change.

EMIT will measure the surface mineralogy of all arid lands in known dust-emitting regions around the planet. The EMIT science team will then use these maps, together with existing datasets, to model the distribution and composition of atmospheric dust, and its influence on Earth's climate.

"By accurately mapping the composition of areas that produce mineral dust, EMIT will advance our understanding of dust's effects throughout the Earth system and to human populations now and in the future," says the mission website.

Live coverage of the launch of the SpaceX resupply cargo mission will air on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website,

A new mission to monitor climate change is set for launch to the @Space_Station aboard @SpaceX's Dragon resupply spacecraft.How to learn more about our Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation, and watch the July 14 liftoff from @NASAKennedy: https://t.co/equljH1vvG pic.twitter.com/lCBF8wIFZb

— NASA (@NASA) July 9, 2022

(To be updated)