NASA's Cloud-Aerosol Transport System instrument (CATS) was set to launch toward the orbiting lab yesterday morning aboard SpaceX's robotic Dragon cargo capsule and it will track clouds and tiny particles of dust, smoke and pollution in Earth's atmosphere that influence climate so that we can better understand climate change. CATS will shine a LIDAR (light detection and ranging) instrument on the atmosphere to measure where particles are, what sorts of particles are within view and how they are distributed. It will also see how day and night affect aerosols and clouds. This is not only beneficial to scientists to help understand the evolution of our atmosphere but could also help us in future atmospheric investigations of other planets. This could help us with better knowing about weather patterns and predicting when storms may emerge. While the things it can study are limited in can still greatly advance our own understanding of something that is part of our daily lives.
http://www.space.com/28216-spacex-dragon-launch-nasa-cats-instrument.html
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