Argentine space mission
For the Geo Quiz, find the “world’s longest continental mountain range”. That takes us to the Andes, in South America. They form a long mountainous border between Chile and Argentina.
Now head down the eastern slope of the Andes toward the geographical center of Argentina and you can’t miss the city were looking for. It’s Argentina’s second largest city, roughly 400 miles northwest of the capital, Buenos Aires.
And it’s where Argentina’s space agency has a ground station. The command and control center tracks satellites, including a new one that was launched just a few days ago. Argentina teamed up with NASA for the mission: it’s called Aquarius.
So, can you name the Argentine city that’s home to the satellite command center?
The answer is Córdoba, Argentina. It’s home to a groundstation (part of Argentina’s Space Program or CONAE) that will track the new Aquarius satellite that’s designed to provide a global view of the planet’s oceans. The Aquarius mission is a collaboration between NASA and the Space Agency of Argentina (Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales). The World’s David Leveille reports.
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.