NASA’s Earth Observing Missions In Operation, Development and the Decadal Survey

Dr. Stephen Volz Associate Director for Flight Programs Earth Science Division, Science Mission Directorate Why are we here?

 2007 National Academy Study indicated that NASA needed to spend greater effort to enable the societal benefits that could be achieved from its orbiting observatories.  We have initiated our first DS missions with a focus on renewed focus on applications  We have conducted Applications workshops for SMAP, HyspIRI, and DESDynI, with more planned for each mission as they mature.  But we have not considered in a focused way how our other missions are successfully (or unsuccessfully) achieving their full potential for societal benefits

 We need to assess how the operating and foundational NASA missions are achieving their potential, and what we (NASA and partner Agencies) can do to ensure they do achieve that potential 2 Missions Distributed by NASA Flight Project Life Cycle

Extracted from NASA: NASA: NASA: NASANPR: 7120.5D NASA Prime: DESDynI ICESat-2 SMAP NPP Aura CLARREO Venture EV-1 Glory OSTM SWOT Aquarius NASA Extended: ASCENDS GPM Aqua ACE LDCM Terra GEO-CAPE TRMM HyspIRI Jason Reimbursable: Reimbursable: Reimbursable: Reimbursable: EO-1 QuikSCAT FO Jason-3 TSIS GOES-P QuikSCAT CERES FM6 GOES-R/S SORCE Acrimsat Other: CALIPSO OCO-2 Other: CloudSat NPOESS? SAGE III GRACE BLUE indicates Decadal Survey activities ICESat 7 Phase E: Missions In Operation NASA Operating Research Missions

9 Phase C/D: Missions In Development ESD Missions in Development & Formulation

GLORY AQUARIUS NPP Late 2010 Late 2010 Sep 2011

LDCM Dec 2012

GPM ICESat-2 SMAP Jul 2013 Late 2015 Nov 2014 Nov 2014 13 Earth Science Missions in Development

NPOESS Preparatory Project1 Required for continuity of several key Strategic mission – Systematic climate measurements between EOS measurement and NPOESS Glory Addresses high priority objective of the Strategic mission – Initiate New US Climate Change Science Program Measurement and Continue and provide continuity for total solar Systematic Measurement irradiance Aquarius2 First dedicated global measurement of Competed mission – Earth System sea surface salinity from space Science Pathfinder LDCM1 Continues the 30+ year Landsat Strategic mission – Systematic moderate resolution multispectral land measurement imaging data record; includes new high sensitivity thermal instrument TIRS Global Precipitation Measure rain microphysical properties Measurement2 and vertical structure, Improve weather, Strategic Mission – Systematic climate, and hydrologic predictions and measurement water resource management

14 1 Represents Interagency Partnership 2 Represents International Partnership Phase A/B: Missions In Formulation Note on Decadal Survey Mission Development

 NASA follows a well defined process for mission development, tailored to the specifics of the program  All Decadal Survey missions are considered Strategic, and will be directed missions (as opposed to AO selected)  This means the mission management will be assigned to a Facility (almost always a NASA Center)  Venture Class and ESTO technology initiatives are competed  Elements of the missions will be competed, with possible competed elements include but are not limited to Science Definition Teams and Instruments  ICESat-2 lidar recently went from an in-house build to a government-vendor partnership  The developmental products, and to a degree the mission development schedule are largely defined by this established process.

16 Earth Science Decadal Survey Missions in Formulation

Soil Moisture Active/Passive Will use a combined radiometer and Mission high-resolution radar to measure 1st Decadal Survey mission – globally surface soil moisture and Systematic measurement freeze-thaw state. Earth Venture – 1 (EV-1) AO Complete suborbital, principal 1st Decadal Survey Venture class investigator-led investigations to announcement conduct innovative, integrated, hypothesis or scientific question-driven approaches to pressing Earth system science issues Ice Cloud and land Elevation Will measure the dynamic state of the Satellite – 2, ICESat-2 Earth’s ice sheets, their seasonal and Systematic measurement and 2nd annual variations and volumetric Decadal Survey mission change

17 1 Represents Interagency Partnership 2 Represents International Partnership Mission Studies in Pre-Formulation Missions in Pre-Formulation

19 NASA Near-Term Missions (4/15 total)

Mission Mission Description Orbit Instruments CLARREO Solar and Earth radiation: LEO, Absolute, (NASA spectrally resolved forcing and Precessing spectrally-resolved portion) response of the climate interferometer system SMAP Soil moisture and freeze/thaw LEO, SSO L-band radar for weather and water cycle L-band radiometer processes ICESat-2 Ice sheet height changes for LEO, Non- Laser altimeter climate change diagnosis SSO DESDynI Surface and ice sheet LEO, SSO L-band InSAR deformation for understanding Laser altimeter natural hazards and climate; vegetation structure for ecosystem health

20 NASA Mid-Term Missions (5/15 total)

Mission Mission Description Orbit Instruments HyspIRI Land surface composition for LEO, SSO Hyperspectral agriculture and mineral spectrometer characterization; vegetation types for ecosystem health ASCENDS Day/night, all-latitude, all- LEO, SSO Multifrequency laser season CO2 column integrals for climate emissions SWOT Ocean, lake, and river water LEO, SSO Ka-band wide swath levels for ocean and inland radar water dynamics C-band radar GEO-CAPE Atmospheric gas columns for GEO High and low spatial air quality forecasts; ocean resolution color for coastal ecosystem hyperspectral health and climate emissions imagers ACE Aerosol and cloud profiles for LEO, SSO Backscatter lidar climate and water cycle; ocean Multiangle color for open ocean polarimeter biogeochemistry Doppler radar 21 NASA Late-Term Missions (6/15 total)

Mission Mission Description Orbit Instruments LIST Land surface topography for LEO, SSO Laser altimeter landslide hazards and water runoff PATH High frequency, all-weather GEO MW array temperature and humidity spectrometer soundings for weather forecasting and SST* GRACE-II High temporal resolution gravity LEO, SSO Microwave or laser fields for tracking large-scale ranging system water movement SCLP Snow accumulation for fresh LEO, SSO Ku and X-band radars water availability K and Ka-band radiometers GACM Ozone and related gases for LEO, SSO UV spectrometer intercontinental air quality and IR spectrometer stratospheric ozone layer Microwave limb prediction sounder 3D-Winds Tropospheric winds for weather LEO, SSO Doppler lidar (Demo) forecasting and pollution transport *Cloud-independent, high temporal resolution, lower accuracy SST to complement, not replace, global 22 operational high-accuracy SST measurement Flight Project Life Cycle

These activities are what NASA does very well. But the same process that produces successful missions does not encourage outreach to organizations outside the focused mission science DESDynI, ICESat-2 SMAP CLARREO & Venture EV-1 requirements. Tier 2 23 Mission Requirements for Pre-Phase A

Scope of Major Pre-Phase A Activities: Areas for Mission Science Team Headquarters  Approve a Formulation Authorization Document  Development of Level 1  Develop DRAFT Level 1 Requirements Science Requirements  Conduct Acquisition Strategy Planning Meeting  Support development of Technical Activities: preliminary mission concepts  Develop and document preliminary mission concepts  Conduct internal Reviews  Support the assessment of  Conduct Mission Concept Review Project Planning, Technical Readiness Levels Costing and Scheduling  Identify potential partnerships  Develop and document a DRAFT Integrated Baseline, including: High level WBS Assessment of Technology Readiness Levels Areas for Applied Science Assessment of Infrastructure and Workforce needs Community Identification of potential partnerships Identification of conceptual acquisition strategies  Initiate assessments of potential for proposed major procurements applied science returns KDP Readiness  Caucus community and partner  Obtain KDP A Readiness products input  Approval through the governing PMC  Support cost benefit analyses for possible requirements modifications to enable critical applications 24 Mission Requirements for Phase A

Scope of Major Phase A Activities: Areas for the Mission Science Team:

Headquarters  Concur with Level 1 Science  Establish Baseline Level 1 Requirements Requirements  Conduct Acquisition Strategy Meeting  Support development of  Initiate Interagency and International Agreements preliminary system-level Technical Activities: requirements  Develop preliminary system level requirements  Support development of  Develop/document Baseline Mission Concept mission baseline concept  Develop preliminary mission operations concept  Support Development of  Initiate technology developments preliminary mission operation  Develop initial orbital debris assessment concept  Conduct System Requirements Review  Conduct Mission Definition Review Project Planning, Costing and Scheduling: Areas for Applied Science  Prepare a preliminary Project Plan Community:  Conduct required Integrated Baseline Reviews   Develop/document preliminary Integrated Baseline Refine applications feasibility  Identify Export Controlled technical data studies KDP Readiness:  Participate in science team  Obtain KDP B Readiness products analysis of refined level 1  Approval through the governing PMC requirements  Support focused applications workshop 25 Tier 1 Mission Readiness

As of 10/14/2008 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 KDP-A KDP-B MCR 09/08 MDR SMAP 06/08 02/09 Jan 2010 KDP-C PER LRD (Soil Moisture And Precipitation)

Delta MCR 11/09 LRD ICESAT-2 MCR (Ice, Cloud, and Land 02/09 Elevation Satellite) KDP-A KDP-B KDP-C PER PSR Dec 2009 MCR Pre-Phase A 2010 KDP-A KDP-B KDP-C PER Early LRD Late LRD CLARREO (Climate Mission Trade Studies Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory) Launch Readiness Window

MCR Pre-Phase A 2010 KDP-A KDP-B KDP-C PER Early LRD Late LRD DESDynI (Deformation, Mission Trade Studies Ecosystem Structure and Dynamics of Ice) Launch Readiness Window

Milestone Duration Bar Progress/Status Bar

Completed Milestone Study Phase

These schedules are driven by technical readiness and by available resources Readiness Window depends on resources and total mission cost. System Design Decisions will be made within the next year (for SMAP & ICESat-2) or the next 2-3 years (CLARREO & DESDynI) 26 Requirements set at KDP-C Earth Science Observations are more than Satellites  Airborne, for observations, instruments, and simulators  Advanced instrument and technology investments for future satellite hardware  Ground calibration of instruments for better absolute accuracy  Airborne and ground sites for flight validation

 Effective interagency partnerships have been utilized in each of these areas

27 Earth Venture – 1 (EV-1) Investigations

 The first set of Venture-class investigations, or Earth Venture-1 (EV-1), solicited proposals for complete suborbital, principal investigator-led investigations to conduct innovative, integrated, hypothesis or scientific question-driven approaches to pressing Earth system science issues  Sustained, science-based data acquisition — The investigations must advance Earth system science objectives through temporally sustained regional- or larger-scale measurements sufficient and necessary to prove/disprove a scientific hypothesis or address scientific questions.  Mature technology — The investigations must use mature system technology where, at a minimum, there has been a system/sub-system model or prototype demonstration in a relevant environment (Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 6 or greater).  Competitive selection — The investigations will be selected in an open competition, to ensure broad community involvement and encourage innovative approaches.  Cost and schedule constraints — Each suborbital Venture-class investigation must have a life cycle of less than or equal to 5 years and total investigation cost not to exceed $30 million.

28 Airborne and Ground-Based Measurement Programs

2005 TRMM Rainfall  Airborne2005 science Terra/MODIS assets are actively engaged in the mission definition and development activities

 Instrument development flights supporting mission definition (DESDynI and ASCENDS)

 Data gathering as gap fillers (ICESat-2)

 Test beds for IIP missions

29 Flight Program Summary Conclusion

 The NASA flight program invests $1.1B – 1.2B/year in its flight missions  Satellite development, operation of missions, EOSDIS and other DACs, competed mission science teams  But our missions will always be focused on primary science, but are capable of returning so much more  It becomes a question of Requirements vs. Capabilities

 We need to see if there are subtle ways to redirect or refocus some small part of these activities to ensure we will retain as much capability as we can, knowing what the communities want  We also need to see investment and involvement from the partners to realize the capabilities

32 How should we follow through?

 One approach employs parallel interactions at the mission level and the Program level  Individual missions are holding their focused missions applications studies  This meeting as a starting point for the Program Discussions  At the program level we should consider follow-up meetings to this workshop, to encourage cross fertilization between missions and measurements  At IGARSS 2010 in Honolulu we will have 3 running sessions on applications enabled from or planned from NASA’s earth observing satellites  The Workshop report is  First to the Earth Science Division so we can best target our resources  Second to NASA to highlight the returns from our missions  Third to partner Agencies and the Administration on how we can/should work in collaboration

 We want your best ideas on how to proceed! 33