SARP

July 13, 2009 -- UCI

Andrew Roberts
Airborne Science Program Director (Retired)
WB-57 Program Manager / Research Pilot
ER-2 Chief Engineer / Kuiper Pilot
USAF – Pilot – Colonel Retired
 Airborne Science Program
Airborne Science
Program
Randy Albertson
Functions:
Portfolio Mgmt,
Grants Studies and Report rqmnts,
Education and Outreach,
Facilities, Testbeds
and Operations

LaRC – Catalog Aircraft GRC – Catalog Aircraft

B-200 S-3, Lear, Twin Otter, T-34

ARC ASP Program WFF ASP Program JSC ASP Program

DFRC ASP Program George Postell Ken Cockrell
Matt Fladeland Bob Curry Dep Anthony Guillory Dep Kevin Lesenski
Dep Jaques Vaschon
Functions:
Functions: Functions:
Studies and Reports, Earth
Functions: P-3, Catalog mgmt, small UAV, WB-57,
Science Project Office, Airborne
DC-8/NSERC, ER-2, Ikhana, Reports, Budget Mgmt support Mission Support Programs
Sensor Facility, Science
Global Hawk, G-III, DAOF
Mission Mgmt, Sierra
 Program Objectives

Satellite Calibration and Validation

Provide platforms to enable essential calibration measurements
for the Earth observing satellites, and the validation of
data retrieval algorithms.

Support New Sensor Development

Provide sub-orbital flight opportunities to test and refine new
instrument technologies/algorithms, and reduce risk prior to
committing sensors for launch into space.

Process Studies
Obtain high-resolution temporal and spatial measurements
of complex local processes, which can be coupled to global
satellite observations for a better understanding of the
complete Earth system.

Development of Next-Generation Scientists and Engineers

Foster the development of our future workforce with the hands-on
involvement of graduate students, and young scientists/engineers in
all aspects of ongoing Earth science investigations.
 Can Airborne Data and Policymakers
Benefit Society

How policy has

protected our
planet

Airborne Science
Discovers CFC’s
07/21/09
as Ozone hole 4
main contributor
Science Requirement Measurements Platforms
 Example of Focus Area
Airborne Support Summary
Type Timeframe Suborbital Program support/remarks
Satellite Cal/Val missions
AURA 2006-2008 Pre- and post-launch Cal/val
OCO 2008–2010 Cal/val
GLORY 2009-2010 Cal/val
AQUARIUS 2009-2010 Cal/val
NPOESS 2011 Cal/val
Calipso/Cloudsat 2006 + Cal/val
New Airborne Sensor development
IIP – HSRL 2006-7 Calipso validation
IIP – Harvard water 2006-7
Laser sounder for CO2 2007-8 Global measurement demo
GOLD 2006 Airborne Ozone Lidar
HSRL and DIAL Lidar 2008 Ozone
Airborne Process studies
TC-4 2007 (Costa Validates A-Train, plus process studies: trace
Rica); 2010 species;
ARCTAS / POLARCAT (Guam)
Global Hawk / decadal 2008 (Arctic) Pollution chemistry in the Arctic
survey proposal 2009 Stratospheric chemistry

Table 2.3 Summary of upcoming Atmospheric Composition and Chemistry missions

 Required Science Measurement Objectives

Altitude vs. Endurance for all missions

120

100

80
max altitude, kft

60

40

20

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
time, hours
 Aircraft Support of Required Measurements

Summary of the National Science Objectives, established by the six focus areas, for
sustained suborbital Earth Science observation requirements, 50% covered by Manned
aircraft another 30% covered by our Unmanned vehicle and 20% still uncovered until
new vehicles become operational
 Flight Requests
Completed:
• FY06 36 FRs for 1307hrs
• FY07 34 FRs for 996hrs
• FY08 44 FRs for 1667 hrs
Airborne Science Program (ASP) has investigators fill out flight
requests for each research activity. Many times to minimize our
flight costs for data collection we are able to incorporate multiple
flight requests into one mission. As you can see there were 44
flight requests completed in FY08 and we flew 20 missions with
367 sorties.

ASP insures compliance with NPD 7900.4b, SMD, NASA and OMB
reporting requirements and NASA airworthiness authority and liability.
Approvals for Laser and Radiation, dropsonde release, pressure vessel
safety, HAZMAT safety, EMI, etc
 Aircraft Utilization FY98-FY08

2500

2000
Science Flight Hours

1500

1000

500

0
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Years
 Supporting internal and external NASA PIs
• In FY2007 the program supported more than 89
Instrument teams from over 27 different organizations
including NASA centers (7), Universities/Institutions (17)
and other agencies (3).

• In FY2008 the program supported more than 92

Instrument teams from 30+ organizations including
NASA Centers (7), Universities/Institutions (20) and
other agencies (3).

• Typically, each university research team has at least one

graduate student associated with each instrument team.

• In last 20 years data collected from airborne missions

produced
– over 1200 peered review journal publications,
– over 250 science conference presentations,
– over 15,000 citations
 A Long History of Worldwide Science
Field Campaigns
Supporting: stratospheric/tropospheric chemistry, cryospheric science, hurricane
observations, atmospheric physics/radiation, terrestrial biosphere studies, satellite
cal/val, and instrument development.
Outstanding examples of accomplishments in each area:
Each badge represents a
major multi-platform Process Study - Atmospheric chemistry - “smoking gun” for stratospheric chemistry
science campaign from AAOE demonstrates role of chlorine in destroying polar ozone

Environmental Characterizations - airborne lidar observations of the Greenland ice

sheet; and the effects of large-scale biomass burning in the Amazon & S. Africa

Satellite Validation - CRYSTAL/FACE: detailed in situ observations of clouds being

observed from satellites; SAFARI 2000: validating MODIS aerosol algorithms

Instrumentation R&D - initial tests of remote sensing technologies: Aquarius/sea

surface salinity sensor; ICESat/Lidars; TRMM/Doppler Radars; & many others

Historical NASA
Deployment Sites
 Airborne Program Infrastructure

• Platforms Ability to Implement

- Complex Field Campaigns
• Sensors - Process Study, Satellite Cal/Val,
Tech Demo, or combination
• Data Systems - Single/Multiple Platform/Instrument
- Remote or Local Deployment with up
• Facilities to several hundred people
- NASA-only or with partners
• People - Incorporating forecast/models,
satellite data, and ground/balloon
instrumentation
- Campaigns can have significant
student involvement and EPO potential
 NASA Unique Airborne Science Aircraft
80000

70000 ER-2
WB-57 Global Hawk

60000

50000 G-III
Altitude (feet)

DC-8

40000 Ikhana
Lear 23 B-200 S-3B

30000
P-3B

Caravan Aerosonde
20000

10000

SIERRA
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Red: NASA ASP Core
Endurance (hours) Green: NASA New Technology
 Sampling Strategy: TC4
Costa Rica, Panama,
A-Train Galapagos, Houston

Remote Sensing
ER-2
TTL

Cloud physics,
TTL chemistry
WB-57

Cloud physics,
TTL chemistry,
Remote sensing
DC-8

10 NPOL, SMART Ground Radar

& Balloon Sondes

0
TC-4 Aircraft and Payloads
 Unique NASA-only Heavy Lift High Altitude Fleet (50k+ feet)

ER-2 (2)

WB-57F (2)

Global Hawk
Range/Endurance Rings Global Hawk (2)
High Altitude Flight Prep
San Francisco – 70,000’
Unique NASA-only Reconfigurable Large Flying Laboratories

-Internal Comm and Data

Networks
-Onboard satcom sensor web
networks
-Dropsonde Ejectors
-Specialized Racks for quick
payload reconfiguration
-Nadir and Zenith ports with
sensor attachment provision
-Wing hard points for sensor
mounting
-Specialized ports for probe
mounts with CFD Analysis
-Common Aircraft State data to
Sensor broadcast
 Airborne Science Program Catalog Platforms (2009)

NASA LaRC B200 NASA GRC Lear-25

(HSRL, LVIS, MFSL) (ACCLAIM, SIMPL)

Commercial Twin Otter U.S.D.o.E. B200

(AVIRIS, PALS) (MASTER)

NOAA/NASA. Aerosonde
(Hurricane Boundary
Layer)
 New Technologies
Platforms:
Global Hawk
Global Hawk UAS: Long-range, high altitude heavy-
lift aircraft with 30+ hour endurance (readying for 1st flight)
Ikhana UAS: Medium altitude Predator-B with 24
hour endurance (graduated to catalog)
Ikhana
SIERRA UAS: Low altitude, easily deployable,
with 100 Lb. payload (on 1st science mission)
G-III w/Platform Precision Autopilot: UAS
surrogate to develop and demonstrate precision flight
controls for repeat pass interferometry (graduated to core) SIERRA

UAVSAR / G-III
Sensor Systems:
UAV-SAR: L- and Ka-Band Interferometric
polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (L-band graduated
from ESTO IIP to operational facility instrument; Ka-band
completed first science mission)

UAS AMS: IR sensor for fires & hurricanes,

Airborne Science Sensor Web
generates and transmits image products
autonomously (graduated to operational facility sensor)
Real-Time Data Systems:
New science data web portal will allow P.I.s
to monitor missions and interact with
sensors in real-time via sat-com links and .
the Internet (current version used in missions)
Superpod Configuration

Artist rendering
The Heaviest Configuration
 2008 Earth Science Technology Office
Flight & Campaign Highlights
Newly-Operating
Wallops, VA Cleveland, OH & Validated Instruments Greenland
Comparison Experiment Campaign
Campaign Demo Flight (NOVICE)

base

Geostationary
Imaging Fabry– Laser Sounder Miniaturized Intra- Glaciers and Ice Sheet
Perot for Global Cavity DFG, Fiber- Interferometric Radar
Spectrometer/Yee Measurements of Optic, & Quantum (GISIR)/Jezek
CO2/Abshire Cascade Laser
Systems/Anderson
 Operation Ice Bridge 1

Success in the Arctic!

- The P3 returned from Greenland two weeks ago
after a highly successful arctic campaign.
- Largest Mission of the Year
20 Science Flights,
170 hours over a six week period
Joint P-3 and G-III flight

P3 Flight Crew
 International Polar Year Activities
Missio Aircraft / Locatio Date Science
n Instruments n
ARCTAS DC-8, P-3, B- Alaska, Spring Arctic pollution
200; Canada 08, and haze;
32 instruments Summer boreal forest
AMISA DC-8 / Kiruna, 08
Summer fires
in-situ validation for
ship, aircraft, satellite
dropsondes Sweden 08
data
Polar Sampling
UAV- G-III / L-band, Thule, May 09 Ice mapping
Rad.
SAR Ka-band SAR Jacobsha with new
Greenla
CASIE SIERRA UAS, vn
Svalbard July 09 instruments
Arctic sea ice
nd laser , Norway mapping
profilometer,
GLOPA Global Hawk / DFRC, Aug 09 Polar Atmospheric
SAR Science Research
C Cloud Profile CA
CTAS= Arctic Research ofLidar & MTP
the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites
ISA = Arctic Mechanisms of Interaction Between the Surface and Atmosphere
SIE = Characterization of Arctic Sea Ice Experiment
S = Unmanned aircraft system
OPAC = GLObal hawk PACific Mission
 Yellowstone Fire - 1988
Ames Research Center
 Western States Fire Mission 08
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger credited an
unmanned NASA aircraft Monday with helping
save the Sierra foothills town of Paradise from a
wildfire last week, calling the plane "one of the
most exciting new weapons in our firefighting
arsenal."
Canyon Complex Situation Unit Leader, Randy Herrin ...
"Thanks for the imagery on the Canyon
Complex. I was able to follow along on
the CDE and video and show the project
to the Operations Chief and Deputy IC.
They were impressed to say the least.
The imagery showed a significant
amount of heat in the SW of our
complex, which we were not expecting,
so that was good to know.
Congratulations to everyone on another
successful mission."
 Range Safety Protection Zones
KEEP-OUT ZONES

Defined and “Owned”

by DFRC Range Safety

Can be changed or
updated before or
during flight with DFRC
Range Safety
concurrence

NOMINAL
AIRCRAFT
UNHEALTHY
AIRCRAFT

26th ICAS/8th ATIO, Large UAS in the NAS - NASA 2007 WSFM 35
 Routes A, B, C
Defined Routes for each
Zone
ZONE A
Over/near forested areas

Avoid population areas

Avoid directly above ZONE B

mountains when possible
• Weather when lost link

ZONE C

26th ICAS/8th ATIO, Large UAS in the NAS - NASA 2007 WSFM 36
 Primary Emergency Landing Sites
Radius = 400 nm
Based on Battery life

Landing agreements
negotiated with each
site

26th ICAS/8th ATIO, Large UAS in the NAS - NASA 2007 WSFM 37
 Secondary Emergency Landing Sites

Radius = 50 nm

Over 280 sites identified

Categorized Green, Yellow,

Purple, Red by pilots

Selected in unpopulated
areas. Abandoned runways,
dry lakebeds, flat ground,
ditch areas

Primary purpose is to
protect public

Actively managed during

each mission

“Owned” by DFRC Range

Safety and changeable
26th ICAS/8th ATIO, Large UAS in the NAS - NASA 2007 WSFM 38
Global Hawk
 GloPac Flights

Aura suborbital
tracks
Nominal
24 hr. flts

Cruise

Vertical
Profile

FL430
 Aircraft Access to Hurricane Forming Regions
GRIP: (Hurricane)
Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes Field Experiment
• The Global Hawk adds
considerable surveillance capability
• Greater range and duration than
DC-8 or ER-2
• Allows for extended on-station time
in hurricane genesis regions
•Geosynchronous simulator

Blue line: DC-8 range for 12-h flight, 6 h on

station
Red lines: GH range for 30-h flight with 15 and
22.5 h on station
Light blue X: Genesis locations for 1940-2006
 Other Programs that make use of suborbital flights
• Earth Venture Initiative
– Developing and demonstrating new Earth observation techniques
• Decadal Survey
– New series of Earth Observing satellites
• IceBridge
– Between ICESAT I failure and ICESATII Launch, ~2014-2015

Organizations outside of Earth Science

• Planetary Science Division Astromaterials & Astrobiology,
(Cosmic Dust collections, SETI (Leonids/Aurids imagery &
MSL Descent Radar tests)
• Heliophysics Science Division Radiation Measurements
• NASA SOMD (WAVE imagery of Shuttle missions,
Columbia debris field imagery, telemetry and ESA-ATV
imagery)
• NASA ARMD (Alternative aviation fuel emissions study &
fiber optic wing shaping sensors)
• Other government agencies: DoD, NOAA, DOE, DHS
 Decadal Survey Tier I Missions
Flight Plans and Opportunities

SMAP SMAPVEX10,11:PALS/P-3 SMAPVEX13,14:UAVSAR?

ICESat II ICE Bridge: Spring/Fall; P-3,DC-8, GH, DC-3, Otter, G-III

DESDynI UAVSAR LVIS / UAVSAR

/GIII Twin Otter /GH?

INFLAME IR / solar system cal/val / TBD

CLARREO tests / DC-8

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

PALS = Passive/Active. L-/S-band microwave instrument

NFLAME = In-situ Net FLux within the AtMsophere of the Earth
UAVSAR = Unmanned aerial vehicle - synthetic aperture radar
LVIS = Laser vegetation imaging system
 Decadal Survey Tier II Missions
Flight Plans and Opportunities
Ka-band / ND& HAMSR KaRIN /
SWOT Greenland / GIII / GH GH

HYSPIRI AVIRIS/ MASTER Mineral

/ ER-2 detector

ASCENDS CO2 CO2 Candidates

Candidates B-200 / DC-8 / S-3

GEO-CAPE FTS/WB57

PODEX / MACPEX PAC3E

ACE ER-2&P-3 / WB-57 DC-8+Hi Alt ALDEX ACEVEX

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

HAMSR = High Altitude MMIC Sounding Radiometer

FTS = Fourier transform spectrometer
KaRIN = Ka-band Radar Interferometer
 Decadal Survey Tier III Missions
Flight Plans and Opportunities

SLCP Ku & X-band; Ka & K-band / GH

LIST Lidar

GACM UV spectrometer, IR spectrometer, Microwave limb sounder

PATH MW array spectrometer

GRACE II Limb sounder

3-D Winds TWiLiTE, 2 Doppler Lidars / DC-8

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

= Global Hawk
iLiTE = Tropospheric Wind Lidar Technology Experiment
 NASA SMD ESD Airborne Science Program Schedule

FY2009
May June July August September October

WB-57 GWI & Superpods test

P-3 Operation Ice Bridge Operation Ice Bridge

DC-8 HYTHIRM SARP Operation Ice Bridge

ER-2 LAC AVIRIS

PDM/Phase
AirMSPI AVIRIS SANDIA

B-200 CALIPSO CONUS

AID for ASCENDS
RACORO CALIPSO Caribbean Biomass burning Glory Validation

UC-12 AID for ASCENDS

G-III UAV IPY - Greenland UAVSAR - Veg Dyn UAVSAR - Volcanos/Veg Dynamics

Lear 25 CO2 Laser Sounder

SIERRA Testflights UAV IPY Arctic Ice Ocean Optics

G.Hawk Testflights GloPac

S. Otter ICESat gapfiller (U,AK)

Cessna AK LIDAR
HSI - Puerto Rico
T-34
WB-57 T.Otter
P-3 SIERRA
DC-8 GH
ER-2 CESSNA Maintanance
B-200 T-34
UC12
G-lll
LEAR 25
R & A 5-Year Flight Schedule
R & A 5-Year Flight Schedule
(UAS Activity highlighted)
A schedule of ICESat Ice Bridge Missions in
addition to currently planned missions
A schedule of ICESat Ice Bridge Missions in
addition to currently planned missions
(UAS missions highlighted)
 ARCTAS Student Involvement

• 60 students involved
• 28 schools
– 20 states
– 4 foreign
• All aspects of mission
– Data collection/analysis
– Sensor maintenance/calibration
– Modeling/forecasting
 2009 Student Airborne Research Mission
Objectives
• Attract new generation to Earth System Science.
• Infuse fresh ideas into ESS research.
• Enlarge contributing pool of institutions.
• Exploit science missions that match students’
educational careers.
Mission Principles
• End-to-End
MASTER – Project Justification - Analysis and Interpretation
– Method - Formal Presentations
– Flight Planning - Societal Benefits
– Data Acquisition
• Sensor Web: Air, Surface, Satellite
• 29 students from 26 schools
Airborne Research Experience for Educators (AREE)
10 Teachers Selected

The AREE project is part of Education Flight Projects and was

competitively selected by the Teaching From Space (TFS) program
located at Johnson Space Center. Education Flight Projects and its Whole Air
associated activities are under the TFS umbrella and are managed
by the JSC Education Office. Sampler
 Wetlands Education Through Maps and Aerial Photography

Primary Goal
To teach basic map skills and imagery WETMAAP
interpretation using Wetlands as the focal point. Teacher Workshops

Secondary Goal
To introduce multiple maps and images to
educators using a combination of satellite and
airborne acquired imagery and data

Program Facts 1996-2008

Sites in 16 states, the District of Columbia,

Costa Rica and Panama
Total Number of grants received: 25
Total Funding Agencies: 29
Total Training Sessions: 157
Total Participants: 3,828
Average per session: 24.50

***These teachers have applied this training to

over 40,000 students to date***
 Airborne Science 2009 Budget
Science
Management
Education & Site 9
Airborne
Outreach
Sensor Tech
Lab
Catalog
New
Technology

Demonstrations

Core Fleet
 Summary
• Support National Science Objectives to provide the
policymakers with the information to benefit society

• ASP Objectives
– Satellite Cal/Val
– New Sensor and Algorithm development
– Process Studies
– Next Generation of Scientist and Engineers

• ASP Aircraft are in three categories

– Core, subsidized by ASP with PI user fee
– Catalog, unsubsidized by ASP, PI pays all fees
– New Tech, normally fully subsidized by ASP

• ASP Provides the infrastructure and personnel to

conduct these investigations in accordance with NASA,
national and international policies and regulations
Back-up Material
Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility (Site 9)
Dedication April 9, 2009
 Future Global Hawk Instruments
UAV Synthetic Land Vegetation
Aperture Radar and Ice Sensor
Global Ozone Lidar
(UAVSAR) Detector
(LVIS)
(GOLD)

Laser altimeter for

measuring vegetation
structure, land
Simultaneous horizontal
topography and ice
and vertical
L-Band Imaging sheets
measurements of
and Single Pass
aerosols and ozone
Interferometry

Prototype airborne DESDynl mission

 Activities which can enhance ASP
contributions to Earth Science
– Establish a core ASP engineering capability in the centers - Reduce
integration cost to the investigator
– Optimize ESD Subsidized Fee by insuring reliable and lowest possible
access cost.
– Sensor Portability
• New Data Distribution System based on Interagency standards in Core fleet
• Started Intercenter Integration Guide for experimenters
• New High Altitude Aircraft to Sensor Interface system (GH, WB-57, ER-2)
– Need to update infrastructure
• WB-57 Engines, Autopilot – maintainability (vanished support, tubes and no
other engine users), comply with RVSM, a 25% improvement in range and
endurance, Increased altitude +~5000 ft
• P-3 Autopilot, Props, wing panels and lavatory upgrades
• DC-8 in 20 years: DC-8’s will be much harder to maintain we should start the
process of developing a replacement, for example a 777ER can fly 9000nm
compared to 5300 nm for the DC-8, burns half the fuel and has 3X the
payload capability.
• New Fuel Heat Systems for the WB-57, ER-2 and Global Hawk
• Global Hawk infrastructure
– Deployable station – potentially setup WFF to support East Coast Operations
– Second GH Ops Center
– Spare parts for fly away kit
 NASA Student Airborne Research Program in Earth System
Science
Organized by the:
National Suborbital Education and Research Center
University of North Dakota

The NASA Student Airborne Research Program is designed with the primary goal
of strengthening NASA’s and the nation’s future workforce, in particular, the
workforce in Earth system science and related fields.

Objectives
•Introduce students to NASA airborne science and its role in Earth system
research.
•Address future workforce needs in the aerospace and airborne science
community.
•Provide students with hands-on experience of end-to-end aspects of a
scientific mission using NASA research aircraft and instrumentation. Do this
in such a time period that an authentic student project can be completed.
Decadal Survey Flight & Instrument Development
 NASA Global Hawk
Operational Est. – Greenland ICE Flights
NASA Wallops used for Remote-site Launch & Recovery
Organizations supported by NASA ASP since 2006

Institutes & Universities Government partners

• Byrd Polar Research Center • NASA Ames Research Center
• Carnegie Institute • NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• Johns Hopkins University • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• University of Kansas • NASA Langley Research Center
• University of Maryland • NASA Glenn Research Center
• UC Santa Cruz • NASA Johnson Space Center
• UC Davis • Department of Energy
• UC Santa Barbara • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• UC Irvine • Department of Defense
• UC Berkeley
• Desert Research Institute
• Monterey Bay Aquarium Institute
• NCAR
• University of New Hampshire
• Naval Postgraduate School
• University of Colorado at Boulder
• SETI
• University of Wisconsin
• Denver University
• University of Florida
• Harvard
• Penn State
• UCAR
• University of North Dakota
 NASA Student Airborne Research Program in Earth System Science
Organized by the:
National Suborbital Education and Research Center
University of North Dakota
The NASA Student Airborne Research Program is designed with the primary goal of strengthening NASA’s and the nation’s
future workforce, in particular, the workforce in Earth system science and related fields.
Objectives
•Introduce students to NASA airborne science and its role in Earth system research.
•Address future workforce needs in the aerospace and airborne science community.
•Provide students with hands-on experience of end-to-end aspects of a scientific mission using NASA research
aircraft and instrumentation. Do this in such a time period that an authentic student project can be completed.

Program specifics
•The program will be a 6-week commitment for 30 diverse students who have been selected in a national competition.
•The first phase of the program will be at the University of California Irvine where lecturers on all aspects of airborne
science will be presented by university faculty from six universities including a Nobel Prize laureate Dr. Sherwood
Rowland.
•The second phase of the program will take place at the Dryden Airborne Operations Facility in Palmdale where students
will have hands on experience integrating instruments on the NASA DC-8, planning two 6 hour science flights, and flying
on the aircraft to take the instrumental data.
•The final phase of the program will be back at UCI where students and faculty mentors will analyze the data collected and
prepare presentations of the results.
Additional training possibility
NASA Dryden Education Office has also proposed to include 10 Earth Science secondary school teachers in
this mission. The teachers would participate in the lecture and flight portion of the program and then meet to develop
curriculums for Earth Science classes.
 NOVICE WB-57 Payload 2008
Left Wing Hatches
DLH (Diskin, Langley)
Frostpoint (Gao, NOAA)

Nose
MMS (Bui, Ames)

Forward Transition
Old Ozone (Gao, NOAA) Right Wing Hatches
DCS (Ames)

Pallets
Pallet 1: TILDE/HHH (Witinski, Harvard)
Right Wing Pod
Pallet 2: Argus (Loewenstein, Ames)
Lyman Alpha
NOBALT
(Anderson, Harvard)
(Podolske, Ames)
Pallet 3: UAS Ozone (Gao, NOAA)
Pallet 4: QCLS (Wofsy, Harvard)
 Value of Weight Increase

• Target weight is 72,000 lbs, a 14%

increase over the current 63,000 lbs
– With an airplane full of experiments in all bays
and pods, will be able to carry about 7,700
more pounds of fuel
– This “buys back” over 2 hours of endurance,
allowing six-hour (approximate) missions with
>7,000 lbs of experiments
 Operation Ice Bridge: Spring 2009 ICESat gapfiller

• The Airborne Science Program has developed

Ice concentration
a 6-yr strategy for collecting ICESat-like data
from aircraft for regions of scientific interest
• The spring 2009 flights will extend and bolster A
B
the existing Greenland P-3/ATM (Krabill) C
missions and include the PARIS (Raney)
RADAR sounder and LVIS (Blair).
• If funding is approved, the Spring campaign
will be repeated over Greenland, and the DC-8
will fly ATM, LVIS, and KU RADAR sounder
(Gogineni)
1
• Extended coverage of Antarctica will be
facilitated by the NSF G-V HIAPER, and the
Global Hawk in 2010 & 2011 respectively.
• IIP and AIST instruments will be included as
they successfully mature evaluate and improve
measurements (SIMPL, MFFL, SMLA)
 NRC Decadal Survey for Earth Science:
(released 16 January 2007)
Space­based observations provide a global view of many Earth system 
processes; however, satellite observations have a number of limitations, 
including spatial and temporal resolution and the inability to observe certain 
parts of the Earth.  Hence, they do not provide a picture of the Earth system that 
is sufficient for understanding key physical, chemical, and biological processes.  

Recommendation: NASA should support Earth science research via

suborbital platforms: airborne programs, which have suffered substantial
diminution, should be restored, and UAV technology should be increasingly
factored into the nation’s strategic plan for Earth sciences.
 Aircraft Science Data & Comm Systems On-board Displays

N-Ch
N-

L
Ch

REVEA
RE
V
EA
L
Satellites

Non-Deployment Teams
Aircraft
Ground Station
Airborne Telepresence Lab, DFRC

MSFC
RTMM server
Field Deployment Team

Multiple Web
sources Field-Deployable System

Notional Airborne Science Real-time Data & Communications Architecture

 Airborne Science Program Operations

Core Airborne Systems:

ER-2, WB-57, DC-8, P-3, G-III

New Technology Airborne Systems

Global Hawk, Sierra, OTH

Catalog Airborne Systems (Utilized)

B-200 (LaRC, DOE, etc), S-3 (GRC), Learjet (GRC), Twin Otter, Caravan, Aerosonde, etc

Airborne Sensor Facility, Mission/Campaign Management

Over 50 aircraft available to the Program

 Arctic Research of the Composition of the
Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites

(ARCTAS)
A NASA contribution to IPY and the
international POLARCAT initiative
http://cloud1.arc.nasa.gov/arctas
Conducted in spring and summer 2008 with the following foci:
1. Long-range transport of pollution to the Arctic (including arctic haze,
tropospheric ozone, and persistent pollutants such as mercury)
2. Boreal forest fires (implications for atmospheric composition and climate)
3. Aerosol radiative forcing (from arctic haze, boreal fires, surface-deposited
black carbon, and other perturbations)
4. Chemical processes (with focus on ozone, aerosols, mercury, and halogens)
April 2008: Fairbanks and Barrow, NASA DC-8
Alaska; Thule, Greenland
July 2008: Cold Lake, Alberta;
Yellowknife, NW Territories NASA P-3B NASA B-200
Partners: NASA, NOAA, DOE,
NSF, Canada, France, Germany
 DC-8
ARCTAS P-3B
Campaign Summary B-200

Planned
Spring CARB Summer Total Hours
DC-8 Sorties 12 4 12 28
183
Hours 84.3 31.7 68.1 184.1
P-3 Sorties 14 3 13 30
175
Hours 80.4 19.2 78.9 178.5
B-200 Sorties 29 0 25 54
Hours 98.1 0 77.9 176 175
Total Sorties 55 7 50 112
Hours 262.8 50.9 224.9 538.6 533
Example of large mission metrics
 ASP N2 Budget

PY08 PY09 PY10 PY11 PY12 PY13 PY14

$33,056 $29,657 $30,846 $32,126 $29,341 $33,399 $34,200

**In addition there is about $8M/yr in User fees and Mission Peculiar Costs
 CY08 ESD Airborne Missions
• Airborne Visible-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) Twin Otter 59 hours
• Cold Land Processes Experiment II Twin Otter 233 hours
• Arctic Research of the Composition of the P-3, DC-8, B-200 263 hours
Tropophere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS)
• California Air Resources Board (CARB) P-3, DC-8, B-200 50 hours
• ARCTAS Summer P-3, DC-8, B-200 225 hours
• High Spectral Resolution LIDAR Calipso/Cloudsat Cal/Val B-200 76 hours
• MASTER Simulator North America ER-2, B-200, TO 138 hours
• Hyperspectral Mission North America ER-2, Twin Otter 74 hours
• Passive Active L/S-band radar (PALS) Twin Otter 92 hours
• Newly-operating and validated instruments comparison exp. WB-57 9 hours
• Western States Fire Mission 08 Ikhana 20 hours
• Arctic Mechanisms of Interactions between surface and atm DC-8 59 hours
• Airborne Laser Remote Measurements of CO2 (ACCLAIM) B-200 34 hours
• UAVSAR (Radar mapping and elevation) baseline G-III 156 hours
• Lidar and Radar Mapping of Antarctica P-3 69 hours
• Ice Roughness Profilometer testflights SIERRA 20 hours
• Soil moisture Active/Passive Validation Experiment (SMAP-VEX) P-3 18 hours
• CO2 Laser Sounder Lear 25 16 hours
• Land vegetation imaging sensore (LVIS) B-200 36 hours
• Geostationary Imaging Fabry-Perot Spectrometer (GIFS) P-3 20 hours
• Total 1667 hours 367 Sorties Flown
(Denotes new instrument development) 66% increase from 2007