Return of the GEDI: GEOG-Led Forest-Mapping Instrument Resumes Operations
The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) is back in action on the International Space Station
The Global Ecosystems Dynamics Investigation, or “GEDI” (pronounced like “Jedi” in Star Wars), is once again firing lasers down to Earth from its perch upon the International Space Station (ISS) after being successfully reinstalled onto its original location on the ISS this past Earth Day, April 22, 2024.
“We are thrilled that GEDI has resumed its scientific operations,” said Ralph Dubayah, GEDI’s principal investigator and a Distinguished University Professor in the Department Geographical Sciences (GEOG). “As we face escalating environmental challenges like droughts, fires, hurricanes, and deforestation, GEDI will be essential in monitoring these changes. We anticipate that its data will be invaluable in addressing these critical issues and promoting sustainability.”
The joint mission between NASA and the University of Maryland has been collecting critical forest height, structure, and surface elevation data since its launch in 2018. At that time, GEDI was slated to be a two year mission, but it received multiple extensions that enabled data collection to continue through early 2023.
The plan after the mission’s second extension period was to release the instrument from the ISS and have it burn up in the atmosphere. However, NASA saved the instrument, and the GEDI mission entered a temporary period of “hibernation” in March 2023.
Dubayah and the rest of the GEDI team planned for a hibernation period to last until fall 2024, during which time they would continue to produce and enhance data products. However, the team was informed in February that GEDI would instead be reinstalled much sooner, in April 2024.
Preparation for reinstallation began swiftly.
“We definitely had to scramble a bit,” recalled Dubayah. “Once you’re off for that long, it's almost as if you are starting from scratch; you have to turn systems on very slowly, test as you go—and so it took about a month or so to get GEDI going again.”
From testing the instrument’s “star trackers” (a way to keep track of where GEDI is in relation to the rest of space) to rebooting its computers, coolant and other systems, it was no small feat to get GEDI ready to continue its transformative work. But, the GEDI team did it, to the great excitement of many.
"GEDI is the first spaceborne lidar instrument designed specifically for vegetation mapping, and is thus a highly successful novel engineering solution,” explained Tatiana Loboda, GEOG professor and Department Chair. “The mission has delivered a previously unprecedented view of global forest cover—a dataset that will provide the basis for applications ranging from carbon monitoring to forest conversion and recovery to ecosystem health and biodiversity. Essentially, GEDI has added the third dimension to our view of the land."
GEDI data has indeed aided many research projects; at UMD, and around the world.
“In our college and far, far beyond, GEDI has enabled critical research into the causes and consequences of climate change,” said Susan M. Rivera, Dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. “I am so proud of the work the GEDI team has done to live out our college’s motto and ‘Be the Solution’ to one of our greatest global challenges. And, I am glad to know that I am not the only one who has seen and appreciated GEDI’s value, evidenced by this next mission and the resounding, well-deserved support it has received.”
Published on Mon, Jul 1, 2024 - 12:42PM