2009 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program

Airborne Sensor
Facility
Formerly known as the Airborne Science and
Technology Laboratory, and located at Ames
Research Center, the ASF jointly supports the
Airborne Science Program and the EOS Project
Science Office. It encompasses the development
and operation of facility instrumentation and
ancillary systems for community use by NASA
investigators. It also provides payload integration
engineering support for the science platforms. The
facility sensors at the ASF include the MODIS
and ASTER Airborne Simulators (MAS and
MASTER,) the Autonomous Modular Sensor (AMS)
for UAS platforms, and various tracking cameras
and precision navigation systems for mission
documentation. Working in conjunction with
UND/NSERC and several NASA engineers, this
group is also leading the implementation of real-time
airborne data networks and internet-based “sensor
web” technologies for the program. In addition,
the lab operates a calibration facility for remote
sensing instruments, which functions as a community
asset and supports a variety of NASA airborne
sensors and radiometers. Additional functions of
the ASF include flight data processing, distribution
and archive, and flight planning support for remote
sensing flight requests. The facility is staffed by the
Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, under the NASA
Ames UARC (University Affiliated Research Center.)
Highlights of 2009 activities follow.
Global Hawk Payload Systems Project
The design and implementation of the payload
communications infrastructure for this major
new science platform was completed in 2009. A
number of custom flight hardware modules were
developed and tested, including a Master Payload
Control System/Power Distribution Unit (MPCS/
PDU) that allows the mission pilot to remotely
monitor and control the power and basic function
of each payload instrument. A new standard
Experimenter Interface Panel was developed for
fleet-wide use, which provides electrical power and
data communications; and a prototype of the new
NASDAT system (NASA Airborne Science Data
and Telemetry module) was fielded on the DC-8 and
P-3. Based on a modified REVEAL system, this will
be the standard airborne network host for the larger
science platforms. A Telemetry Link Module was
also developed as a peripheral on the Global Hawk
airborne network, which will host a database of
the mission science data, and respond to download
queries across the high-speed Ku-band sat-com
system (See the New Technology section for related
information.)
MASTER (MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator)
MASTER was a key instrument on the DC-8
Student Airborne Research Program (SARP)
missions. Students participated in data collections
over a variety of study sites that included agricultural
areas, and an algal bloom incubator zone in the
waters of Monterey Bay. Several of the subsequent
SARP teaching modules were based on these data
sets. A ten-year time series was also continued,
with MASTER data being collected over several
long-term study sites in Arizona and New Mexico.
These data are being used to monitor changes in
desert hydrology, and to develop remote sensing
methodologies for understanding surface energy
balance. MASTER will be in extended maintenance
through the spring of 2010.
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