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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 217 records · Page 12
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NASA NTRS2008

The Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle: Human Space Access for the Moon and Beyond

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s Constellation Program is depending on the Ares Projects to deliver the crew launch capabilities needed to send human explorers to the Moon and beyond. The Ares Projects continue to make progress toward design, component testing, and early flight testing of the Ares I crew launch vehicle (Figure 1), the United States first new human-rated launch vehicle in over 25 years. Ares I will provide the core space launch capabilities the United States needs to continue providing crew and cargo access to the International Space Station (ISS), maintaining the U.S. pioneering tradition as a spacefaring nation, and enabling cooperative international ventures to the Moon and beyond. This paper will discuss programmatic, design, fabrication, and testing progress toward building this new launch vehicle.

Cook, Stephen A.↗
NASA NTRS2021

Europa Clipper Payload Verification and Validation: Early Architecture and Implementation

NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will investigate the Jovian icy moon Europa with a sophisticated payload consisting of a suite of nine instruments. Clipper’s observations will help provide answers to a broad range of scientific objectives related to Europa’s habitability. As the project proceeds through Phase C, we are building confidence in the system’s ability to achieve these science goals by implementing a rigorous payload verification and validation (V&V) program. This paper details the planned structure and implementation of the Europa Clipper payload V&V program as it exists leading up to the project critical design review (CDR), before the bulk of instrument- or payload- level V&V activities have begun. We first explain the context for payload V&V on Europa Clipper, including its interfaces with other parts of the project system. We then describe the taxonomy of V&V concepts and their interrelationships, followed by a discussion on how this framework allows us to codify interfaces, processes, and ideas that are key to a successful V&V program. We focus on key aspects of the planning phases of V&V, especially establishing a complete set of verification items and accurately mapping them into appropriate verification activities. The second half of the paper describes the logistics of implementing this framework onto our actual payload system, including the processes and tools we use to manage and communicate agreements, changes, and risks across the project. We conclude with a reflection on the unique drivers and challenges of the V&V program concept development so far and the work that is planned for phase D implementation.

Srivastava, Priyanka↗
NASA NTRS2002

Combining Sense and Intelligence for Smart Structures

IFOS developed the I*Sense technology with assistance from a NASA Langley Research Center SBIR contract. NASA and IFOS collaborated to create sensing network designs that have high sensitivity, low power consumption, and significant potential for mass production. The joint- research effort led to the development of a module that is rugged, compact and light-weight, and immune to electromagnetic interference. These features make the I*Sense multisensor arrays favorable for smart structure applications, including smart buildings, bridges, highways, dams, power plants, ships, and oil tankers, as well as space vehicles, space stations, and other space structures. For instance, the system can be used as an early warning and detection device, with alarms being set to monitor the maximum allowable strain and stress values at various points of a given structure.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2020

PHALANX: Expendable Projectile Sensor Networks for Planetary Exploration

Technologies enabling long-term, wide-ranging measurement in hard-to-reach areas are a critical need for planetary science inquiry. Phenomena of interest include flows or variations in volatiles, gas composition or concentration, particulate density, or even simply temperature. Improved measurement of these processes enables understanding of exotic geologies and distributions or correlating indicators of trapped water or biological activity. However, such data is often needed in unsafe areas such as caves, lava tubes, or steep ravines not easily reached by current spacecraft and planetary robots. To address this capability gap, we have developed miniaturized, expendable sensors which can be ballistically lobbed from a robotic rover or static lander - or even dropped during a flyover. These projectiles can perform sensing during flight and after anchoring to terrain features. By augmenting exploration systems with these sensors, we can extend situational awareness, perform long-duration monitoring, and reduce utilization of primary mobility resources, all of which are crucial in surface missions. We call the integrated payload that includes a cold gas launcher, smart projectiles, planning software, network discovery, and science sensing: PHALANX. In this paper, we introduce the mission architecture for PHALANX and describe an exploration concept that pairs projectile sensors with a rover “mothership.” Science use cases explored include reconnaissance using ballistic cameras, volatiles detection, and building timelapse maps of temperature and illumination conditions. Strategies to autonomously coordinate constellations of deployed sensors to self-discover and localize with peer ranging (i.e. a “local GPS”) are summarized, thus providing communications infrastructure beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) of the rover. Capabilities were demonstrated through both simulation and physical testing with a terrestrial prototype. The approach to developing a terrestrial prototype is discussed, including design of the launching mechanism, projectile optimization, micro-electronics fabrication, and sensor selection. Results from early testing and characterization of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components are reported. Nodes were subjected to successful burn-in tests over 48 hours at full logging duty cycle. Integrated field tests were conducted in the Roverscape, a half-acre planetary analog environment at NASA Ames, where we tested up to 10 sensor nodes simultaneously coordinating with an exploration rover. Ranging accuracy has been demonstrated to be within +/-10cm over 20m using commodity radios when compared to high-resolution laser scanner ground truthing. Evolution of the design, including progressive miniaturization of the electronics and iterated modifications of the enclosure housing for streamlining and optimized radio performance are described. Finally, lessons learned to date, gaps toward eventual flight mission implementation, and continuing future development plans are discussed.

Dille, Michael↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

How Can We Efficiently Build A Spacecraft That Has Longevity? Experiences From the GSFC Perspective to Inform Lunar Exploration and Science Orbiter’s Architecture

Recent successes in NASA planetary science missions has shown that long-lived missions can yield significant science return. These missions, despite their longevity, were not planned to operate beyond their deign life. For example, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has a design life of 2-3 years, and yet we are entering its 14th year on orbit. Spacecraft longevity in practice has been related to: 1) mission class; 2) did we test it long enough and resolve all the anomalies to be beyond the early failure curve; 3) consumables budgets, and 4) how components are de-signed and tested. Mission class has been perceived as one of the primary ways to drive longevity. But higher mission class is a significant cost and mission driver. Parts selection only from the limited military standard parts and extensive parts qualification adds to development time and cost. Largely redundant (often erroneously interpreted as fully redundant) adds to launch mass and increases testing complexity (which may reduce the amount of testing in the nominal con-figuration). Lower Risk Posture (reflected in a higher mission class) drives significant additional processes and quality assurance analyses. Higher mission class also drives significantly greater sparing and life testing costs. This discussion focuses on whether this is indeed the best way to achieve longevity efficiently or whether there are more efficient ways to achieve longevity. Empirical evidence shows that lower mission classes that implement effective risk reduction and selective redundancy generally results in long life at a lower Spacecraft bus cost. By evaluating redundancy careful-ly, spacecraft cost can be lowered which can enable a more capable payload. Risk of the mission is highly dependent on the complexity of the mission and is only loosely dependent on Class of Mission. High complexity missions can have many single point failures and require the development of new technology, while lower class mission can have lower risk by baselining or incorporating: (selective) redundancy, fault-tolerant design, design for minimum risk, ability to reset, and/or design for graceful degradation. The team met with Goddard Space Flight Center Space Systems Mission Operations leaders to discuss which avionics have proven in flight to be the most reliable and which have had lifetime issues. The paper proposes a list of components to focus on for redundancy for a long-lived lunar mission. Reliability numbers are presented for both single string and dual string missions. The history of life-time performance versus planned mission life according to mission class is presented. A mission with well thought out selective redundancy and effective on the ground test program, can be expected to last well beyond its mission lifetime and provided enhanced return for the community. This approach minimizes project expenditures that do not retire significant risk and allows the project to focus risk mitigation efforts on those risks that will have a significant likelihood of threatening mission success. This is aided by keeping the amount of technology maturation and mission complexity low, while focusing effort on ensuring all component stress-ing parameters well within the bounds of their capabilities.

Lessons Learned↗
NASA NTRS1999

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission and Vern Suomi 's Vital Role

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission was a new concept of measuring rainfall over the global tropics using a combination of instruments, including the first weather radar to be flown in space. An important objective of the mission was to obtain profiles of latent heat in order to initialize large-scale circulation models and to understand the relationship between short-term climate changes in relation to rainfall variability. The idea originated in the early 1980's from scientists at the Goddard Space Flight Center/NASA who had been involved with attempts to measure rain with a passive microwave instrument on Nimbus 5 and had compared its results with rain falling in the area covered by the GATE1 radar ships. Using an imaginary satellite flying over the GATE ships, scientists showed that a satellite with an inclined orbit of 30-35 degrees could obtain monthly rainfalls with a sampling error of less than 10 percent over 5 degree by 5 degree areas. The Japanese proposed that they could build a nadir-scanning rain radar for the satellite. Vern Suomi was excited by this mission from the outset, since he recognized the great importance of adequate rainfall measurements over the tropical oceans. He was a charter member of the Science Steering Team and prepared a large part of the Report. While the mission attracted strong support in the science community, it was opposed by some of the high-level NASA management who feared its competition for funds with some much larger Earth Science satellites. Vern was able to overcome this opposition and to generate Congressional support, so that the Project finally got underway on both sides of the Pacific in 1991. The paper will discuss the design of the satellite, its data system and ground validation program. TP.NM was successfully launched in late 1997. Early results will be described. 1 GATE stands for GARP Atlantic Tropical Experiment and GARP stands for Global Atmospheric Research Program.

Simpson, Joanne↗
DOE OSTI2025

Status of the Proton EDM Experiment (pEDM)

The Proton EDM Experiment (pEDM) is the first direct search for the proton electric dipole moment (EDM) with the aim of being the first experiment to probe the Standard Model (SM) prediction of any particle EDM. Phase-I of pEDM will achieve $10^{-29} e\cdot$cm, improving current indirect limits by four orders of magnitude. This will establish a new standard of precision in nucleon EDM searches and offer a unique sensitivity to better understand the Strong CP problem. The experiment is ideally positioned to explore physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM), with sensitivity to axionic dark matter via the signal of an oscillating proton EDM and across a wide mass range of BSM models from $\mathcal{O}(1\text{GeV})$ to $\mathcal{O}(10^3\text{TeV})$. Utilizing the frozen-spin technique in a highly symmetric storage ring that leverages existing infrastructure at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), pEDM builds upon the technological foundation and experimental expertise of the highly successful Muon $g$$-$$2$ Experiments. With significant R&D and prototyping already underway, pEDM is preparing a conceptual design report (CDR) to offer a cost-effective, high-impact path to discovering new sources of CP violation and advancing our understanding of fundamental physics. It will play a vital role in complementing the physics goals of the next-generation collider while simultaneously contributing to sustaining particle physics research and training early-career researchers during gaps between major collider operations.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
NASA NTRS2014

Renewable Energy at NASA's Johnson Space Center

NASA's Johnson Space Center has implemented a great number of renewable energy systems. Renewable energy systems are necessary to research and implement if we humans are expected to continue to grow and thrive on this planet. These systems generate energy using renewable sources - water, wind, sun - things that we will not run out of. Johnson Space Center is helping to pave the way by installing and studying various renewable energy systems. The objective of this report will be to examine the completed renewable energy projects at NASA's Johnson Space Center for a time span of ten years, beginning in 2003 and ending in early 2014. This report will analyze the success of each project based on actual vs. projected savings and actual vs. projected efficiency. Additionally, both positive and negative experiences are documented so that lessons may be learned from past experiences. NASA is incorporating renewable energy wherever it can, including into buildings. According to the 2012 JSC Annual Sustainability Report, there are 321,660 square feet of green building space on JSC's campus. The two projects discussed here are major contributors to that statistic. These buildings were designed to meet various Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification criteria. LEED Certified buildings use 30 to 50 percent less energy and water compared to non-LEED buildings. The objectives of this project were to examine data from the renewable energy systems in two of the green buildings onsite - Building 12 and Building 20. In Building 12, data was examined from the solar photovoltaic arrays. In Building 20, data was examined from the solar water heater system. By examining the data from the two buildings, it could be determined if the renewable energy systems are operating efficiently. Objectives In Building 12, the data from the solar photovoltaic arrays shows that the system is continuously collecting energy from the sun, as shown by the graph below. Building 12 has two solar inverters, located on the second floor, that collected the data from the solar photovoltaic arrays. The data displayed here is the total energy produced by the system. These are cumulative amounts, so the last point on the graph shows all of the energy collected from the system since the start of its operation. The data shown here was manually collected from the solar inverters. However, the data is also automatically recorded through EBI. Through analysis of both sets of data it was determined that the EBI data was faulty. For example, from the manually collected data it can be determined that a total of 73 kWh of energy was collected between the dates of 1/16/2014 – 1/22/2014. The EBI data reports that approximately 17800 kWh of energy was collected during the same time frame. Not only does this exceed the time frame examined, but it also exceeds the total energy collected from the start of collection as recorded from the inverters. This leads to the belief that there is a malfunction with the automatic recording of the energy. In Building 20, data was examined from the solar water heater dating back many months and found that the pump for the solar water heater system was not operating properly, as exhibited in the graph shown below. The pump operates on a solar energy system, meaning that it collects energy throughout the day from the sun. Because of this, the system would stop operating shortly after the sun set because of a lack of sunlight. At that point, the graph should show a zero flow rate, but as exhibited in the graph below, that is not the case. It is clearly shown that the pump is continuously operating, even during the night. It was also observed that the majority of the time the pump would not turn on at all, despite good weather conditions. This led to the conclusion that the pump is malfunctioning, and needs to be examined and fixed.

McDowall, Lindsay↗
DOE OSTI2026

Estimating Return on Investment for Energy Technical Assistance Programs

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of State and Community Energy Programs engaged the National Laboratory of the Rockies to assess the return on investment (ROI) of technical assistance (TA) programs that support state, local, and Tribal energy planning. Although TA delivers value through capacity building, stakeholder engagement, and knowledge transfer, these benefits are often intangible and challenging to monetize. This study reviews existing ROI frameworks and synthesizes the most relevant elements into a hybrid approach tailored to energy TA programs. The proposed framework integrates monetary and non-monetary outcomes through early logic model development, baseline data collection, and the use of proxies for intangible benefits. As a case study, this paper applies this approach to the Communities Local Energy Action Program (Communities LEAP), demonstrating how ROI can inform program design, data strategy, and performance assessment. Findings underscore that ROI should be applied selectively and planned from the outset to ensure data alignment and attribution accuracy. The framework offers TA practitioners a structured approach that can be leveraged for future programs to evaluate and communicate the multifaceted value of TA investments.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
NASA NTRS1993

The use of analytical models in human-computer interface design

Recently, a large number of human-computer interface (HCI) researchers have investigated building analytical models of the user, which are often implemented as computer models. These models simulate the cognitive processes and task knowledge of the user in ways that allow a researcher or designer to estimate various aspects of an interface's usability, such as when user errors are likely to occur. This information can lead to design improvements. Analytical models can supplement design guidelines by providing designers rigorous ways of analyzing the information-processing requirements of specific tasks (i.e., task analysis). These models offer the potential of improving early designs and replacing some of the early phases of usability testing, thus reducing the cost of interface design. This paper describes some of the many analytical models that are currently being developed and evaluates the usefulness of analytical models for human-computer interface design. This paper will focus on computational, analytical models, such as the GOMS model, rather than less formal, verbal models, because the more exact predictions and task descriptions of computational models may be useful to designers. The paper also discusses some of the practical requirements for using analytical models in complex design organizations such as NASA.

Gugerty, Leo↗
NASA NTRS2018

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission's Scientific Achievements and Societal Contributions: Reviewing Four Years of Advanced Rain and Snow Observations

Precipitation represents a life-critical energy and hydrologic exchange between the Earth’s atmosphere and its surface. As such, knowledge of where, when, and how much rain and snow falls is essential for scientific research and societal applications. Building on the 17-year success of the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM), the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory (GPM-CO) is the first U.S. National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) satellite mission specifically designed with sensors to observe the structure and intensities of both rain and falling snow. The GPM-CO has proved to be a worthy successor to TRMM, extending and improving high-quality active and passive microwave observations across all times of day. The GPM-CO launched in early 2014, is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), with sensors that include the NASA-provided GPM Microwave Imager and the JAXA-provided Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar. These sensors were devised with high accuracy standards enabling them to be used as a reference for inter-calibrating a constellation of partner satellite data. These intercalibrated partner satellite retrievals are used with infrared data to produce merged precipitation estimates at temporal scales of 30 minutes and spatial scales of 0.1° x 0.1°. Precipitation estimates from the GPM-CO and partner constellation satellites, provided in near real time and later reprocessed with all ancillary data, are an indispensable source of precipitation data for operational and scientific users. Advances have been made using GPM data, primarily in improving sensor calibration, retrieval algorithms, and ground validation measurements, and used to further our understanding of the characteristics of liquid and frozen precipitation and the science of water and hydrological cycles for climate/weather forecasting. These advances have extended to societal benefits related to water resources, operational numerical weather prediction, hurricane monitoring, prediction, and disaster response, extremes, and disease.

Applications↗
NASA NTRS2004

Final Report for the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS)

ACS was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia just before dawn on March 1, 2002. At the time of liftoff, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was reflecting the early morning sun as it moved across the sky. After successfully docking with HST, several components were replaced. One of the components was the Advanced Camera for Surveys built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. (BATC) in Boulder, Colorado. Over the life of the HST contract at BATC, hundreds of employees had the pleasure of working on the concept, design, fabrication, assembly, and test of ACS. Those employees thank NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center and the science team at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) for the opportunity to participate in building a great science instrument for HST.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2026

Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) End-of-Performance and Decommissioning Considerations [Slides]

This presentation provides a comprehensive overview of end-of-performance and decommissioning considerations for large-scale Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). It outlines expected system lifespans, midterm assessment needs, and pathways for extending operational life through augmentation or repowering. The presentation details regulatory requirements that govern decommissioning plans, cost estimates, financial assurance mechanisms, and performance obligations across multiple jurisdictions. It further examines end-of-life equipment management, including recycling, waste handling, transportation, and environmental compliance. Designed to support Malawi's electricity-sector institutions, the presentation highlights how planning for decommissioning and environmental stewardship can be integrated early in project development to ensure safe, financially accountable, and environmentally responsible BESS system retirement.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

DIII-D Electron Cyclotron Heating and Current Drive System Status and Plans

The DIII-D 110 GHz Electron Cyclotron Heating and Current Drive (ECH/ECCD) System supports a wide range of experiments at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility and is pioneering innovative new techniques for future fusion reactors. Here, the system currently includes 8 sockets with 4 installed gyrotrons, 31.75 mm circular corrugated transmission lines, four dual real time steerable launchers plus two Top Launchers. After the successful testing of the first Top Launcher, that injects the EC waves downward nearly parallel to the resonance layer with double current drive efficiency and a long absorption path, a second new Top Launcher was designed and installed with an upgraded design. Some of the operational limitations encountered for the 110 GHz X-mode second harmonic resonance scenario launched in over-dense plasmas were overcome with the alternative use of O-mode second harmonic launch. Two new gyrotrons in a new series manufactured by CPI were installed and tested, bringing up the total installed power to 3 MW. The installation of repaired and new gyrotrons will increase the number of installed gyrotrons to 7 in 2023. An addition to the DIII-D building will be completed in early 2022 to provide the space to expand the ECH/ECCD system to ten gyrotron systems, plus an extra gyrotron test socket.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Dynamic metrics of natural ventilation cooling effectiveness for interactive modeling

The evaluation of natural ventilation potential for cooling indoor spaces during the early design phases is of great interest to researchers and practitioners. Among various definitions and usages for natural ventilation potential (NVP) in early design evaluation, this paper reviews and identifies the key performance indicators, and proposes two new dynamic metrics—natural ventilation cooling effectiveness (NVCE) and climate potential utilization ratio (CPUR). The metrics are dynamically responsive to various design options, in both steady and transient states, allowing consideration of thermal mass. Assisting in design development processes, the metrics quantify how well indoor spaces make use of natural ventilation’s cooling capacity. Case studies are presented to demonstrate how NVCE and CPUR enable designers to evaluate the predicted performance and how to apply the information to improve building design. Finally, the results of the design iterations showed that the relationship among various design parameters should be dynamically understood in order to evaluate the performance of natural ventilation, confirming that “the more the airflow, the greater the potential,” and “the heavier the thermal mass, the greater the energy saving” were not always true.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2023

A Complex Brownfields Case Study—The Former Bannister Federal Complex, Kansas City, Missouri

Abstract In November 2017, 225 acres (91 ha) of the former Bannister Federal Complex (BFC) in Kansas City, Missouri were transferred from the Federal Government to Bannister Transformation & Development, LLC (BTD), for demolition; environmental corrective measures; and preparation of the site for redevelopment. This presented a once‐in‐a‐lifetime opportunity to reconfigure groundwater remedies and address long‐standing soil contamination issues. The property included more than 40 previously‐identified Solid Waste Management Units, 3.9 million square feet (362,000 m 2 ) of buildings, subsurface utilities dating back to the 1940s, and an active groundwater containment system. Demolition of buildings and installation of an interim groundwater containment system began almost immediately after property transfer. In 2018, BTD substantially modified its project schedule to incorporate the construction of the first new buildings while demolition and remedial activities were ongoing. By October 2020, construction of the first new warehouse commenced while excavation and capping of contaminated soils, installation of a groundwater containment treatment systems, and abandonment of legacy utilities were still underway. Completion of this work, within the originally planned timeframe, was made possible by factors including up‐front multi‐year funding, early and ongoing engagement of regulators, an extended 3‐year due diligence program and planning stage, and establishment of well‐defined environmental targets. Both the soil and groundwater remedies were also designed with the flexibility needed to accommodate unknown conditions, changing schedules, and revisions to the regrading and redevelopment plans. This case study highlights key technical and management factors that led to the successful completion of this complex brownfields remediation project.

Water Resources↗
NASA NTRS1996

Flights of Discovery: 50 Years at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center

As part of the NASA History Series, this report (NASA SP-4309) describes fifty years of aeronautical research at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. Starting with early efforts to exceed the speed of sound with the X-1 aircraft, and continuing through to the X-31 research aircraft, the report covers the flight activities of all of the major research aircraft and lifting bodies studied by NASA. Chapter One, 'A Place for Discovery', describes the facility itself and the surrounding Mojave Desert. Chapter Two, 'The Right Stuff', is about the people involved in the flight research programs. Chapter Three, 'Higher, Faster' summarizes the early years of transonic flight testing and the development of several lifting bodies. Chapter Four, 'Improving Efficiency, Maneuverability & Systems', outlines the development of aeronautical developments such as the supercritical wing, the mission adaptive wing, and various techniques for improving maneuverability fo winged aircraft. Chapter 5, 'Supporting National Efforts', shows how the research activities carried out at Dryden fit into NASA's programs across the country in supporting the space program, in safety and in problem solving related to aircraft design and aviation safety in general. Chapter Six, ' Future Directions' looks to future research building on the fifty year history of aeronautical research at the Dryden Flight Research Center. A glossary of acronyms and an appendix covering concepts and innovations are included. The report also contains many photographs providing a graphical perspective to the historical record.

Lane E Wallace↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

From NASA's EOS to ESO: Advancing Applications of the Future Atmosphere Observing (AOS) Mission

The NASA Earth System Observatory (ESO) Atmosphere Observing System (AOS) is being designed to explore the fundamental questions of how interconnections between aerosols, clouds and precipitation impact our weather and climate, addressing real-world challenges to benefit society. A fundamental component of the AOS mission is ensuring that applications for economic and societal benefit are considered to the greatest extent possible in mission design. As a result, the AOS Applications Impact Team (AIT) was formed to address this objective. The overarching goal of the AIT is to help improve capacity for transitioning science to applications to make it possible to more quickly and effectively inform decisions that will directly benefit society. We seek to maximize AOS benefit to impact decisions through early engagement in the mission development phase in order to prepare stakeholders to apply observations as soon as AOS mission data become available. A critical component of preparing future users of AOS mission data is building on the successes of applications of NASA’s existing Earth Observing System (EOS), A-Train, and sub-orbital campaigns with the goal of advancing current mission applications activities and preparing for innovative AOS mission observations. NASA’s GPM mission forms a framework to enhance AOS precipitation applications while AOS health and air quality applications benefit from the heritage of CALIPSO and MODIS. Additionally, AOS will likely benefit from current and future missions such as TROPICS, MAIA, TEMPO, and PACE which launch before AOS. Additionally, current sub-orbital field campaigns, such as NASA IMPACTS and ACTIVATE, provide rich data sources to highlight future AOS capabilities. Engaging with existing missions and sub-orbital field campaigns helps to identify and understand data needs, gaps, and opportunities for current and future stakeholders, determine what data products are of highest value and use, and connect stakeholders with current mission data that can serve as AOS proxy data, among others. In this presentation, we provide an overview of AOS AIT activities, initiatives, and the AOS Applications Seminar Series to highlight how existing EOS, A-Train, and sub-orbital missions can play a critical role in advancing AOS applications prior to launch.

Emily B. Berndt↗