The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently awarded the NASA Peer Award to Dr. Saji Abraham for his outstanding service. His research on developing galactic and ionosphere emission models will play a critical role in the Aquarius and Hydros space missions scheduled for 2008. The main purpose of the missions is to observe ocean salinity and soil moisture.

These satellites will get data by using microwave remote sensing. The research will help make more accurate weather prediction, among other things.

These satellites will also study and keep an eye on changes in ocean circulation. The findings of the research done by Dr. Abraham will play a critical role in the calibration of the Aquarius radiometer.

The citation given to Dr. Abraham by the director of the Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes says that “one of his several papers published or submitted in 2003 describes a model to predict the galactic background radiation at L-band, a model that will become an important element in the retrieval algorithm for the Aquarius mission.”

Dr. Abraham, who hails from Adoor in Kerala, has been working with NASA’s microwave remote sensing department as a scientist for over seven years. He did his B.Sc in Physics from Kerala University and a Ph.D. in space physics from Delhi University.