NASA Earth Science UAS Mission Requirements

Don Sullivan

NASA Ames Research Center

dsullivan@gaia.arc.nasa.gov

Suborbital Science Program

Objectives

•Development of new space sensors and new remote-sensing techniques.

•Satellite calibration/validation.

• Targeted observations of ephemeral phenomena with variable temporal and spatial scales.

•Atmosphere/near-space in-situ observations.

•Improvement and validation of predictive Earth process models using satellite data.

•Next-generation scientists with hands-on sensor hardware and field experiment experience.

Add to the understanding and prediction of the Earth system. Suborbital observations fill time and space gap between surface observing networks and orbital platforms.

Sounding Rocket Program

Balloon Program

Aircraft & UAS Program

Earth Science Mission Types

• Atmospheric Composition and Chemistry

• Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems

• Climate Change• Water and Energy• Weather• Earth Surface and Interior

UAS System Capabilities

• High altitude, low altitude, stacked• Long range, long endurance• Varied payloads: remote sensing and in situ sampling• Global missions: poles, equator, remote• Over-the-horizon communications• Collaborative planning, scheduling and tracking,especially for

multiple aircraft operationsBeyond Line of Sight

Line of Sight

Control System

SATCOM Link

A UAV System includes:1. Air Veh icle and payloads2. Communications Architecture3. Command & Control System

User Community

UAV

Enabled by: Autonomous Mission Management, Reliable Flight Systems, NavigationAccurate Systems, Terrain Avoidance, Power and Propulsion

“Suborbital Science Missions of the Future” Platform Requirements

Altitude vs. Endurance

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

1 10 100 1000

Flight endurance, hours

Max A

ltit

ud

e,

kft

1 day 2 days 3 4 5 7 10 14

Hurricane tracker(500kg)

Pollution tracking(1136kg)

Pollution tracking(900kg)

Weather forecasting(500kg)

Stratospheric ozone(1600kg)Water vapor

(545kg)

Tropospheric ozone(1000kg)

Extreme weather

Fire monitoring(180kg)

Aerosols, cloud and precip(500kg)

Clouds

Hurricane profile

Aerosols and radiation

Clouds and radiation

Fire plumeAntarctic glaciers

Carbon flux

Magnetic fields

Gravitationalacceleration

daughtership

Radiation

River discharge

3-D Global dropsondes

Volcano spectroscopy

Troposphere profileCloud aerosols

and particles

Ice sheets

Example Missions

Mission CorrespondingCharacteristics

Bandwidthrequirements

Atmosphericpollution

Vertical profiles

Clouds Stacked, multi-aircraft

Vegetation Multispectral imageryWildfire mapping Real-time dataGreenhousegases

Remote locations

Hurricanes Long endurancemonitoring

Cryosphere (ice)changes

Long range flight

Atmospheric Chemistry Missions

Cloud, Aerosol, Water Vapor, and Total Water Measurements, cont’d

Vegetation Structure, Composition, and Canopy Chemistry, cont’d

Active Fire, Emissions, and Plume Assessment, cont’d

Southern Ocean Carbon Cycle, cont’d

Hurricane

Antarctic Explorer, cont’d

What we did this weekend

When we should have been working on this presentation

Bandwidth and Spectrum Summary

• HALE == Commercial Ku/Ka• MALE == License, arer wide• LAME == Commercial Iridium or equiv• Mixed need all…• NOBODY needs more Ch4 “notes”