2008 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program

Engineering: MAS (MODIS
Airborne Simulator) Status
After more than 650 highaltitude
missions on the ER-2,
the MAS sensor was taken
out of service for an extensive
re-fit. It is anticipated to be
available for use again in late
2009. A project to design and
build a next-generation data
system for the MAS and related
instruments was also begun, with
support from the EOS-PSO.
MASTER (MODIS/ASTER Airborne
Simulator)
Three sequential acquisitions
were conducted on the DOE
B-200 aircraft of the major 2007
Southern California fire scars
to document the ecological
impact of severe wildfires (see
page 27). Other MASTER data
collections included an Sudden
Oak Death study site in Big
Sur, CA, Monterey Bay algal blooms, and day/
night thermal IR missions over the city of San
Francisco to study urban heat island effects. A
ten-year time series was also continued over the
USDA long-term study sites near Jornada, New
Mexico, to develop remote sensing of techniques
for desert hydrology, and for using ASTER and
MODIS thermal infrared data to study surface
energy balance. MASTER was also flown on
the ER-2 over calibration sites in Nevada for the
EOS PSO.
AMS (Autonomous Modular Sensor)
The final series of Western States fire missions
were conducted with the AMS mounted in
a wing pod on the Ikhana UAS (see page
Figure 44
The AMS sensor as configured for the Ikhana UAS sensor
pod, for the Western States Fire Missions.
23). Multiple fires across California
were imaged with this multispectral
system, and real-time fire data products
were generated onboard the aircraft
and relayed to users on the ground
via an internet-based data distribution
network. Testing and integration of a
higher performance Applanix POS/AV
geo-location system was conducted
simultaneously. The AMS sensor is
currently being re-configured for
atmospheric research missions on the
Global Hawk UAS, and an Ocean Color
102