Libera
Understanding Earth's Energy Budget
The Libera NASA mission will record how much energy leaves our planet’s atmosphere on a day-by-day basis providing crucial information about how Earth’s climate is evolving over time. The mission will maintain decades long data record of observation from NASA’s suite of Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) instruments. In Roman mythology, Libera is the daughter of the goddess Ceres.
To meet NASA’s Earth Venture Continuity (EVC) requirements and to advance the scientific use of Earth Radiation Budget data, Libera defines three overarching goals:
- Provide seamless continuity of the ERB Climate Data Records (CDRs)
- Develop a self-contained, innovative and affordable observing system
- Provide new and enhanced capabilities that support extending ERB science goals
Libera will measure solar radiation with wavelengths between 0.3 and 5 microns reflected by the Earth system and infrared radiation with wavelengths between 5 and 50 microns emitted from the Earth system as it exits the top of the atmosphere. The sensor will also measure the total radiation leaving the Earth system at all wavelengths from 0.3 to 100 microns. An innovative additional “split shortwave” channel measuring radiation between 0.7 and 5 microns has been added to enable new Earth radiation budget science.
