Astronomical impact of COVID-19
Coronavirus has had seismic effects on all aspects of life globally, but what has the space industry been able to tell us, and what can it do to help?
The coronavirus has had seismic effects on all aspects of life, but what has the space industry been able to tell us, and what can it do to help?
The world is in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic, and it is having a profound effect on individuals, businesses and industries across the globe. Since COVID-19 – also known as ‘coronavirus’ – gained global attention at the beginning of 2020, it has had a knock-on effect that can even be seen from space.
In response to battling the virus, almost all the world’s governments have issued strict lockdown policies stating that people can only leave their homes for essential shopping and going to work – but only for key workers. This has led to a dramatic reduction in travel, with local nonessential businesses being asked to close their doors temporarily and public gatherings being postponed.
The harmful emissions that usually permeate the atmosphere above busy cities are now drastically clearing as a consequence of these closures. Although COVID-19 is a negative situation as a whole, the side effects it’s having on the planet’s atmosphere and the environment are a minor positive. Calls for a large-scale reduction of fossilfuel burning and other means of harmful emission production have intensified over the last few years, and in the midst of this pandemic satellites in lowEarth orbit have been able to see what fossil-fuel abstinence can do for our planet.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has a fleet of satellites dedicated to observing Earth from space and noting any changes that occur. This all falls under the space agency’s Copernicus Programme. Named after the famous Polish astronomer who first suggested that Earth revolves around the Sun, this satellite suite namesake was created to manage the environment and understand the influence of climate change. One particular member of the Copernicus family, known as a Sentinel, has been observing the concentration of nitrogen dioxide over the globe, which is directly linked to the severity of air pollution.
Wuhan, a city in the Chinese province of Hubei, is largely regarded as the global epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak, meaning that China was the first country to exhibit strict lockdown protocols. Over the course of December 2019 and January, February and March 2020, the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite provided timely updates on the concentration of nitrogen dioxide, which is usually released via power plants, vehicles and industrial facilities. When the team put together images taken over the course of three months, a dramatic reduction in the molecule’s concentration over the entire country was shown, most noticeably above Beijing and Shanghai. These two cities are almost synonymous with air pollution and bad air quality. They are hugely populated cities in a country where it was reported in 2012 that air pollution was responsible for over a million deaths. To have a drastic drop in these emissions could actually save some lives, and at the very least provide better air quality for a better quality of living.
As the virus began rearing its head in Europe, Italy had the initial outbreak and experienced the harshest consequences of it first. As a result the ESA satellites began monitoring Italy, and the Sentinel5P satellite provided ten-day average frames of the concentration of nitrogen dioxide from January to March 2020. “The decline in nitrogen dioxide concentration over the Po Valley in northern Italy is particularly evident,” states Claus Zehner, the ESA’s Copernicus Sentinel-5P mission manager. “Although there could be slight variations in the data due to cloud cover and changing weather, we are very confident that the reduction in concentration that we can see coincides with the lockdown in Italy causing less traffic and industrial activities.”
In early March Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte enforced harsh measures in the northern region that saw a quarter of the population have their movements restricted. Cities such as Milan,
Venice, Turin and others are thought of as the economical heart of the country, so to have such firm restrictions in place obviously took its toll. However, these restrictions consequently saw a reduction in nitrogen dioxide. Not only that but the waters of Venice appear to be returning to their former unpolluted beauty.
Venice, ‘the floating city’, is a beautiful place to visit, but because of this it’s a tourist hotbed. Tourist demand in recent years has led to more boat traffic and pollutants being released into the city’s majestic canals. Another member of the Copernicus Programme, Sentinel-2, revealed the difference in water quality between 13 April 2019 and 19 April 2020, and the contrast is incredible. The obvious murky discharge from overtourism has faded. The waters appear clearer, and nature is returning.
At the time of writing the latest results from the Copernicus Programme show that four major European cities – Milan, Rome, Paris and Madrid – all exhibit much less air-pollutant concentrations compared to the previous year. Decreases average out to 50 per cent less than the previous year, with Paris showing the greatest reduction with 54 per cent. However, this is still scientific observation, and uncertainty needs to be taken into account
– to the tune of 15 per cent for these calculations. Nevertheless, the lowest average is still a 35 per cent reduction of air pollutants, which is an incredible feat for humankind in some of the most industrially demanding cities of the world.
NASA also has its own set of eyes from above, with satellites that contribute to the space agency’s Earth Observing System (EOS). The two satellites in focus, Aura and Terra, have likewise been monitoring air pollution in the form of nitrogen dioxide and aerosols respectively. The results from the Aura satellite show that the northeastern
region of the US had a 30 per cent lower average concentration of nitrogen dioxide when compared to the averages in March 2015 to 2019. Its partner, Terra, has been keeping an eye on India since the strict lockdown of 1.3 billion people on 25 March 2020. Remarkably, in less than a month’s time NASA’s satellite had measured a 20-year record low in aerosol levels over the country.
While space agencies continue to carefully monitor the data collected by these Earth-observing satellites, the same agencies have had to carefully manage the operations of space science probes elsewhere in the Solar System. NASA, the ESA and other space agencies have not been exempt from the stern recommendations to work from home where possible. As staff cannot take a whole command centre home to operate a spacecraft on another planet, a few missions have had to be put into hibernation due to these staff restrictions and work from home orders.
On 25 March 2020 the ESA made the decision to put four of its missions on ‘temporary standby’ – thus suspending all scientific operations – due to staffing restrictions at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany. The four-satellite Cluster mission, the ExoMars
Trace Gas Orbiter, the Mars Express orbiter and the recently launched Solar Orbiter had their scientific operations suspended until 5 April. Although this was a short period of time, it still demonstrates the gravity of the situation and the extent to which space agencies are going to prioritise the health of staff. The highly anticipated Rosalind Franklin rover, which is the next instalment in the European and Russian Martian astrobiology mission, has had its launch pushed back until 2022, but this was due more to technical difficulties as opposed to a COVID-related knock-on effect.
NASA had a big scare back on 23 March when an employee from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida tested positive for coronavirus. However, three days prior to this announcement NASA issued a statement outlining that employees will be working from home unless absolutely necessary and will continue to support mission-essential operations for all spacecraft. However, this has meant that projects in the pipeline – such as the James Webb Space Telescope, the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft – have had their production and testing temporarily suspended. NASA has continued with the production of its Mars 2020 mission, as it is a high priority to the agency. This means that the space agency still intends to launch the Perseverance rover and Mars Helicopter in July or August of this year ahead of its intended
arrival next year in February 2021.
Meanwhile, as space agencies across the world look to juggle their obligations to build, launch and maintain spacecraft with minimal in-situ staff, they are continuing business on board the International Space Station (ISS) as normal. Although there are precautions in place to make sure the virus does not find its way onto the station, the astronaut launches and returns are happening as originally planned, with no delays.
In this current and uncertain climate, astronauts can provide a service that is just as valuable as the work they do in low-Earth orbit. In fact, if there is a group of people who know how to be confined in a small space for months on end, away from their loved ones, it’s astronauts. Because of this expertise with isolation, astronauts have been explaining how quarantining with your family echoes living on the ISS and have been sharing what tips they have for people who are struggling.
In an interview with the United States news show CBS This Morning, retired NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson – who in 2017 broke the record for most cumulative days in space with a whopping total of 665 days, 22 hours and 22 minutes – spoke about effective communication. “[Self-isolation is] actually very doable, but it’s very important to be able to interact well with the people you’re staying with, living with.”
The ESA also released a video in March 2020 with French astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s tips for social distancing. As a bit of light-hearted fun, he suggested keeping yourself occupied with tasks such as going through old photos taken on the
ISS, reading some of the classics and sleeping in a vertical sleeping bag suspended from the coat hook of a door. In all seriousness, however, Pesquet stated that there are three key points to remember during this COVID-19 outbreak. Firstly, always listen to the instructions of the government and health professionals. Secondly, wash your hands and do so consistently. Finally – and with the most emphasis of all – stay at home.
“The reduction in concentration coincides with the lockdown causing less traffic and industrial activities”
Claus Zehner