2009 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program

Science and Requirements
The Science Requirements and Management
program element, implemented from the Airborne
Science Office at NASA Ames, provides the
information and analyses to ensure that the
composition of the aircraft catalog, aircraft
schedules, and investments in new technologies are
directly and clearly traceable to current and planned
science mission requirements. In addition, the Earth
Science Project Office (ESPO) provides support
through requirements analysis, flight request tracking
and management, and mission concept and science
instrument integration development and support.
Requirements are collected and validated in
partnership with the three key stakeholder groups
within the earth science community:
1. Mission scientists and managers of
space flight missions in need of data
for satellite calibration and algorithm
validation.
2. Engineers and developers of new
instruments in need of test flight or
operations.
3. Scientists in need of airborne
observations for answering science
questions.
Near term requirements are gathered primarily
through the online flight request system as well as
inputs from mission science teams, conferences
and scientific literature. The need for airborne
observations related to priority SMD missions
is tracked using a 5-year plan, updated annually,
and by frequent communications with the NASA
Earth Science Program Managers. For longerterm
requirements, the program engages in a
systematic process of collecting requirements from
conferences, workshops, publications and interviews.
Requirements gathered include platform altitude,
endurance, range, and payload capacity, as well as
telemetry, navigation data recorders, multidisciplinary
sensors, and science-support systems.
A major effort in FY2009 concerned the formulation
of the Operation Ice Bridge. The Ames team
worked with Seelye Martin, then Program Manager
for the Cryosphere Science Program, and the
Cryosphere Science community to define areas
that should be included in an airborne gap-filler
campaign. The final report, “An Analysis and
Summary of options for collecting ICESat-like
data from aircraft through 2014”, was the basis for
Operation Ice Bridge.
In support of the National Research Council
Decadal Survey entitled, “Earth Science and
Applications from Space: National Imperatives for
the Next Decade and Beyond,” in which fifteen new
satellite missions were recommended for NASA to
pursue, the Airborne Science Office at Ames began
the process of documenting airborne requirements
for supporting all aspects of the Decadal Survey
missions in development including instrument
development, future calibration/validation plans,
and algorithm development. This report will include
an overview of the missions, airborne instruments,
plans for calibration and validation, and a schedule
of expected activities and assets. A first draft
has been completed and the final report will be
completed in mid-FY2010.
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