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NASA NTRS2014

CLARREO Approach for Reference Intercalibration of Reflected Solar Sensors: On-Orbit Data Matching and Sampling

The implementation of the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) mission was recommended by the National Research Council in 2007 to provide an on-orbit intercalibration standard with accuracy of 0.3% (k = 2) for relevant Earth observing sensors. The goal of reference intercalibration, as established in the Decadal Survey, is to enable rigorous high-accuracy observations of critical climate change parameters, including reflected broadband radiation [Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES)], cloud properties [Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)], and changes in surface albedo, including snow and ice albedo feedback. In this paper, we describe the CLARREO approach for performing intercalibration on orbit in the reflected solar (RS) wavelength domain. It is based on providing highly accurate spectral reflectance and reflected radiance measurements from the CLARREO Reflected Solar Spectrometer (RSS) to establish an on-orbit reference for existing sensors, namely, CERES and VIIRS on Joint Polar Satellite System satellites, Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer and follow-on imagers on MetOp, Landsat imagers, and imagers on geostationary platforms. One of two fundamental CLARREO mission goals is to provide sufficient sampling of high-accuracy observations that are matched in time, space, and viewing angles with measurements made by existing instruments, to a degree that overcomes the random error sources from imperfect data matching and instrument noise. The data matching is achieved through CLARREO RSS pointing operations on orbit that align its line of sight with the intercalibrated sensor. These operations must be planned in advance; therefore, intercalibration events must be predicted by orbital modeling. If two competing opportunities are identified, one target sensor must be given priority over the other. The intercalibration method is to monitor changes in targeted sensor response function parameters: effective offset, gain, nonlinearity, optics spectral response, and sensitivity to polarization. In this paper, we use existing satellite data and orbital simulationmethods to determinemission requirements for CLARREO, its instrument pointing ability, methodology, and needed intercalibration sampling and data matching for accurate intercalibration of RS radiation sensors on orbit.

radiometry↗
NASA NTRS2015

Status of the Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) Phase 2, 1.5m ULE(Registered Trademark) Mirror

The Decadal Survey stated that an advanced large-aperture ultraviolet, optical, near-infrared (UVOIR) telescope is required to enable the next generation of compelling astrophysics and exoplanet science; and, that present technology is not mature enough to affordably build and launch any potential UVOIR mission concept. Under Science and Technology funding, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and Exelis have developed a more cost effective process to make up to 4m monolithic spaceflight UV quality, low areal density, thermally and dynamically stable primary mirrors. Under a Phase I program, a proof of concept mirror was completed at Exelis and tested down to 250K at MSFC which would allow imaging out to 2.5 microns. In 2014, Exelis and NASA started a Phase II program to design and build a 1.5m mirror to demonstrate lateral scalability to a 4m monolithic primary mirror. The current status of the Phase II development program will be provided along with a Phase II program summary.

Space Mirror Technology↗
NASA NTRS2015

Out of This World Science, Down to Earth Prices

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), along with the rest of government and the nation have become increasing cost conscious in recent years. This has resulted in renewed efforts at finding ways to do more with less. Planetary science is no exception. The 2013 Decadal Survey for Planetary Science made great efforts to understand the costs of proposed missions. The community has been asked to develop more affordable versions of mission concepts, especially in the flagship category. Many in the community continue to encourage NASA to prioritize lower cost missions at a more frequent cadence over fewer but larger missions. This presentation discusses a new tool in the planetary science arsenal to achieve a broad set of planetary science questions at costs that are lower, and in some cases dramatically lower, than other options in the past. Technology advances in pointing systems and the growing capabilities of stratospheric balloons, such as the ultra-long duration flights, have caught the attention of many in the planetary science community. A workshop was held in January 2012 to help planetary scientists and NASA better understand the capabilities of balloon borne platforms, along with their strengths and limitations. Perhaps most importantly, the workshop focused on the potential science that could be achieved. The science and engineering participants discussed what, if any, science can be achieved and why or how balloon platforms would offer an advantage. Since that first workshop, not only have further discussions and studies occurred within the community, but demonstration missions have been flown with compelling results. These balloon missions have shown that the science envisioned can indeed be achievable, that balloon platforms do offer some unique advantages; and that repeated flights can be implemented at relatively low cost. The presentation briefly summarizes the potential science and the characteristics of a balloon based observatory that make it desirable for some science investigations. The recent missions are described along with some of their challenges and achievements. Finally, a brief summary of options moving forward are considered.

Planetary Science↗
NASA NTRS2015

Current Status of a NASA High-Altitude Balloon-Based Observatory for Planetary Science

Recent studies have shown that progress can be made on over 20% of the key questions called out in the current Planetary Science Decadal Survey by a high-altitude balloon-borne observatory. Therefore, NASA has been assessing concepts for a gondola-based observatory that would achieve the greatest possible science return in a low-risk and cost-effective manner. This paper addresses results from the 2014 Balloon Observation Platform for Planetary Science (BOPPS) mission, namely successes in the design and performance of the Fine Pointing System. The paper also addresses technical challenges facing the new Gondola for High Altitude Planetary Science (GHAPS) reusable platform, including thermal control for the Optical Telescope Assembly, power generation and management, and weight-saving considerations that the team will be assessing in 2015 and beyond.

predictive filter↗
NASA NTRS2015

The NASA Earth Science Program and Small Satellites

Earth's changing environment impacts every aspect of life on our planet and climate change has profound implications on society. Studying Earth as a single complex system is essential to understanding the causes and consequences of climate change and other global environmental concerns. NASA's Earth Science Division (ESD) shapes an interdisciplinary view of Earth, exploring interactions among the atmosphere, oceans, ice sheets, land surface interior, and life itself. This enables scientists to measure global and climate changes and to inform decisions by Government, other organizations, and people in the United States and around the world. The data collected and results generated are accessible to other agencies and organizations to improve the products and services they provide, including air quality indices, disaster prediction and response, agricultural yield projections, and aviation safety. ESD's Flight Program provides the spacebased observing systems and supporting infrastructure for mission operations and scientific data processing and distribution that support NASA's Earth science research and modeling activities. The Flight Program currently has 21 operating Earth observing space missions, including the recently launched Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2), the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, and the International Space Station (ISS) RapidSCAT and Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) instruments. The ESD has 22 more missions and instruments planned for launch over the next decade. These include first and second tier missions from the 2007 Earth Science Decadal Survey, Climate Continuity missions to assure availability of key climate data sets, and small-sized competitively selected orbital missions and instrument missions of opportunity belonging to the Earth Venture (EV) Program. Small satellites (~500 kg or less) are critical contributors to these current and future satellite missions. Some examples are the aforementioned Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2), the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow On (GRACE FO), and the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) microsatellite constellation. Small satellites also support ESD in space validation and risk reduction of enabling technologies (components and systems). The status of the ESD Flight Program and the role of small satellites will be discussed.

Earth Science Prog & Small Sat↗
NASA NTRS2015

Beyond Chandra - the X-ray Surveyor

Over the past 16 years, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has provided an unparalleled means for exploring the high energy universe with its half-arcsecond angular resolution. Chandra studies have deepened our understanding of galaxy clusters, active galactic nuclei, galaxies, supernova remnants, planets, and solar system objects addressing most, if not all, areas of current interest in astronomy and astrophysics. As we look beyond Chandra, it is clear that comparable or even better angular resolution with greatly increased photon throughput is essential to address even more demanding science questions, such as the formation and subsequent growth of black hole seeds at very high redshift; the emergence of the first galaxy groups; and details of feedback over a large range of scales from galaxies to galaxy clusters. Recently, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, together with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, has initiated a concept study for such a mission now named the X-ray Surveyor. This concept study starts with a baseline payload consisting of a high resolution X-ray telescope and an instrument set which may include an X-ray calorimeter, a wide-field imager and a dispersive grating spectrometer and readout. The telescope would consist of highly nested thin shells, for which a number of technical approaches are currently under development, including adjustable X-ray optics, differential deposition, and modern polishing techniques applied to a variety of substrates. In many areas, the mission requirements would be no more stringent than those of Chandra, and the study takes advantage of similar studies for other large area missions carried out over the past two decades. Initial assessments indicate that such an X-ray mission is scientifically compelling, technically feasible, and worthy of a high prioritization by the next American National Academy of Sciences Decadal Survey for Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Beyond Chandra↗
NASA NTRS2014

Investigating the Origin and Evolution of Venus with In Situ Mass Spectrometry

The exploration of Venus continues to be a top priority of planetary science. The Planetary Decadal Survey goals for inner-planet exploration seek to discern the origin and diversity of terrestrial planets, understand how the evolution of terrestrial planets relates to the evolution of life, and explore the processes that control climate on Earth-like planets [1]. These goals can only be realized through continued and extensive exploration of Venus, the most mysterious of the terrestrial planets, remarkably different from the Earth despite the gross similarities between these twin planets. It is unknown if this apparent divergence was intrinsic, programmed during accretion from distinct nebular reservoirs, or a consequence of either measured or catastrophic processes during planetary evolution. Even if the atmosphere of Venus is a more recent development, its relationship to the resurfacing of the planets enigmatic surface is not well understood. Resolving such uncertainties directly addresses the hypothesis of a more clement, possibly water-rich era in Venus past as well as whether Earth could become more Venus-like in the future.

earth-like planets↗
NASA NTRS2015

Intelligent Observation Strategies for Geosynchronous Remote Sensing for Natural Hazards

Geosynchronous satellites offer a unique perspective for monitoring environmental factors important to understanding natural hazards and supporting the disasters management life cycle, namely forecast, detection, response, recovery and mitigation. In the NASA decadal survey for Earth science, the GEO-CAPE mission was proposed to address coastal and air pollution events in geosynchronous orbit, complementing similar initiatives in Asia by the South Koreans and by ESA in Europe, thereby covering the northern hemisphere. In addition to analyzing the challenges of identifying instrument capabilities to meet the science requirements, and the implications of hosting the instrument payloads on commercial geosynchronous satellites, the GEO-CAPE mission design team conducted a short study to explore strategies to optimize the science return for the coastal imaging instrument. The study focused on intelligent scheduling strategies that took into account cloud avoidance techniques as well as onboard processing methods to reduce the data storage and transmission loads. This paper expands the findings of that study to address the use of intelligent scheduling techniques and near-real time data product acquisition of both the coastal water and air pollution events. The topics include the use of onboard processing to refine and execute schedules, to detect cloud contamination in observations, and to reduce data handling operations. Analysis of state of the art flight computing capabilities will be presented, along with an assessment of cloud detection algorithms and their performance characteristics. Tools developed to illustrate operational concepts will be described, including their applicability to environmental monitoring domains with an eye to the future. In the geostationary configuration, the payload becomes a networked thing with enough connectivity to exchange data seamlessly with users. This allows the full field of view to be sensed at very high rate under the control of ground infrastructure, resulting in improved efficiencies, accuracy and science benefits. Hence a remote sensing payload and its data may become one of millions of connected objects in the emerging Internet of Things (IoT), and be as easily accessible by a users smart phone as any other smart appliance.

0↗
NASA NTRS2016

A Multi-Frequency Wide-Swath Spaceborne Cloud and Precipitation Imaging Radar

Microwave and millimeter-wave radars have proven their effectiveness in cloud and precipitation observations. The NASA Earth Science Decadal Survey (DS) Aerosol, Cloud and Ecosystems (ACE) mission calls for a dual-frequency cloud radar (W band 94 GHz and Ka-band 35 GHz) for global measurements of cloud microphysical properties. Recently, there have been discussions of utilizing a tri-frequency (KuKaW-band) radar for a combined ACE and Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) follow-on mission that has evolved into the Cloud and Precipitation Process Mission (CaPPM) concept. In this presentation we will give an overview of the technology development efforts at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and at Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems (NGES) through projects funded by the NASA Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) Instrument Incubator Program (IIP). Our primary objective of this research is to advance the key enabling technologies for a tri-frequency (KuKaW-band) shared-aperture spaceborne imaging radar to provide unprecedented, simultaneous multi-frequency measurements that will enhance understanding of the effects of clouds and precipitation and their interaction on Earth climate change. Research effort has been focused on concept design and trade studies of the tri-frequency radar; investigating architectures that provide tri-band shared-aperture capability; advancing the development of the Ka band active electronically scanned array (AESA) transmitreceive (TR) module, and development of the advanced radar backend electronics.

imaging↗
NASA NTRS2016

Rodent Habitat on ISS: Advances in Capability for Determining Spaceflight Effects on Mammalian Physiology

Rodent research is a valuable essential tool for advancing biomedical discoveries in life sciences on Earth and in space. The National Research Counsel's Decadal survey (1) emphasized the importance of expanding NASAs life sciences research to perform long duration, rodent experiments on the International Space Station (ISS). To accomplish this objective, new flight hardware, operations, and science capabilities were developed at NASA ARC to support commercial and government-sponsored research. The flight phases of two separate spaceflight missions (Rodent Research-1 and Rodent Research-2) have been completed and new capabilities are in development. The first flight experiments carrying 20 mice were launched on Sept 21, 2014 in an unmanned Dragon Capsule, SpaceX4; Rodent Research-1 was dedicated to achieving both NASA validation and CASIS science objectives, while Rodent Reesearch-2 extended the period on orbit to 60 days. Groundbased control groups (housed in flight hardware or standard cages) were maintained in environmental chambers at Kennedy Space Center. Crewmembers previously trained in animal handling transferred mice from the Transporter into Habitats under simultaneous veterinary supervision by video streaming and were deemed healthy. Health and behavior of all mice on the ISS was monitored by video feed on a daily basis, and post-flight quantitative analyses of behavior were performed. The 10 mice from RR-1 Validation (16wk old, female C57Bl6/J) ambulated freely and actively throughout the Habitat, relying heavily on their forelimbs for locomotion. The first on-orbit dissections of mice were performed successfully, and high quality RNA (RIN values>9) and liver enzyme activities were obtained, validating the quality of sample recovery. Post-flight sample analysis revealed that body weights of FLT animals did not differ from ground controls (GC) housed in the same hardware, or vivarium controls (VIV) housed in standard cages. Organ weights analyzed post-flight showed that there were no differences between FLT and GC groups in adrenal gland and spleen weights, whereas FLT thymus and liver weights exceeded those of GC. Minimal differences between the control groups (GC and VIV) were observed. In addition, Over 3,000 aliquots collected post-flight from the four groups of mice were deposited into the Ames Life Science Data Archives for the Biospecimen Sharing Program and Genelab project. New capabilities recently developed include DEXA scanning, grip strength tests and male mice. In conclusion, new capability for long duration rodent habitation of group-housed rodents was developed and includes in-flight sample collection, thus avoiding the complication of reentry. Results obtained to date reveal the possibility of striking differences between the effects of short duration vs. long duration spaceflight. This Rodent Research system enables achievement of both basic science and translational research objectives to advance human exploration of space.

Bone Loss↗
NASA NTRS2016

Rodent Habitat On ISS: Spaceflight Effects On Mouse Behavior

The NASA Decadal Survey (2011), Recapturing a Future for Space Exploration: Life and Physical Sciences Research for a New Era, emphasized the importance of expanding NASA life sciences research to long duration, rodent experiments on the International Space Station (ISS). To accomplish this objective, flight hardware, operations, and science capabilities supporting mouse studies in space were developed at NASA Ames Research Center. The first flight experiment carrying mice, Rodent Research Hardware and Operations Validation (Rodent Research-1), was launched on Sept 21, 2014 in an unmanned Dragon Capsule, SpaceX4, exposing the mice to a total of 37 days in space. Ground control groups were maintained in environmental chambers at Kennedy Space Center. Mouse health and behavior were monitored for the duration of the experiment via video streaming. Here we present behavioral analysis of two groups of five C57BL/6 female adult mice viewed via fixed camera views compared with identically housed Ground Controls. Flight (Flt) and Ground Control (GC) mice exhibited the same range of behaviors, including eating, drinking, exploratory behavior, self- and allo-grooming, and social interactions at similar or greater levels of occurrence. Mice propelled themselves freely and actively throughout the Habitat using their forelimbs to push off or by floating from one cage area to another, and they quickly learned to anchor themselves using tails and/or paws. Overall activity was greater in Flt as compared to GC mice, with spontaneous ambulatory behavior including the development of organized ‘circling’ or ‘race-tracking’ behavior that emerged within the first few days of flight and encompassed the primary dark cycle activity for the remainder of the experiment. We quantified the bout frequency, duration and rate of circling with respect to characteristic behaviors observed in the varying stages of the progressive development of circling: flipping utilizing two sides of the habitat, circling, multi-lap circling and group-circling. Once begun, mice did not regress to flipping behavior or other previous behavioral milestones for the remainder of flight. An overall upward trend in circling frequency, rate, duration, participation, and organization was observed over the course of the 37-day spaceflight experiment. In this presentation, we will summarize qualitative observations and quantitative comparisons of mice in microgravity and 1g conditions. Behavioral analyses provide important insights into the overall health and adaptation of mice to the space environment, and identify unique behaviors and social interactions to guide future habitat development and research on rodents in space.

Mouse↗
NASA NTRS2014

Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-CAPE) Sensitivity Analysis Experiment

Geostationary Coastal and Air pollution Events (GEO-CAPE) is a NASA decadal survey mission to be designed to provide surface reflectance at high spectral, spatial, and temporal resolutions from a geostationary orbit necessary for studying regional-scale air quality issues and their impact on global atmospheric composition processes. GEO-CAPE's Atmospheric Science Questions explore the influence of both gases and particles on air quality, atmospheric composition, and climate. The objective of the GEO-CAPE Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) is to analyze the sensitivity of ozone to the global and regional NOx emissions and improve the science impact of GEO-CAPE with respect to the global air quality. The GEO-CAPE OSSE team at Jet propulsion Laboratory has developed a comprehensive OSSE framework that can perform adjoint-sensitivity analysis for a wide range of observation scenarios and measurement qualities. This report discusses the OSSE framework and presents the sensitivity analysis results obtained from the GEO-CAPE OSSE framework for seven observation scenarios and three instrument systems.

Lee, Meemong↗
NASA NTRS2016

An Efficient Approach for Mars Sample Return Using Emerging Commercial Capabilities

Mars Sample Return is the highest priority science mission for the next decade as recommended by the 2011 Decadal Survey of Planetary Science. This article presents the results of a feasibility study for a Mars Sample Return mission that efficiently uses emerging commercial capabilities expected to be available in the near future. The motivation of our study was the recognition that emerging commercial capabilities might be used to perform Mars Sample Return with an Earth-direct architecture, and that this may offer a desirable simpler and lower cost approach. The objective of the study was to determine whether these capabilities can be used to optimize the number of mission systems and launches required to return the samples, with the goal of achieving the desired simplicity. All of the major element required for the Mars Sample Return mission are described. Mission system elements were analyzed with either direct techniques or by using parametric mass estimating relationships. The analysis shows the feasibility of a complete and closed Mars Sample Return mission design based on the following scenario: A SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch vehicle places a modified version of a SpaceX Dragon capsule, referred to as "Red Dragon", onto a Trans Mars Injection trajectory. The capsule carries all the hardware needed to return to Earth Orbit samples collected by a prior mission, such as the planned NASA Mars 2020 sample collection rover. The payload includes a fully fueled Mars Ascent Vehicle; a fueled Earth Return Vehicle, support equipment, and a mechanism to transfer samples from the sample cache system onboard the rover to the Earth Return Vehicle. The Red Dragon descends to land on the surface of Mars using Supersonic Retropropulsion. After collected samples are transferred to the Earth Return Vehicle, the single-stage Mars Ascent Vehicle launches the Earth Return Vehicle from the surface of Mars to a Mars phasing orbit. After a brief phasing period, the Earth Return Vehicle performs a Trans Earth Injection burn. Once near Earth, the Earth Return Vehicle performs Earth and lunar swing-bys and is placed into a Lunar Trailing Orbit - an Earth orbit, at lunar distance. A retrieval mission then performs a rendezvous with the Earth Return Vehicle, retrieves the sample container, and breaks the chain of contact with Mars by transferring the sample into a sterile and secure container. With the sample contained, the retrieving spacecraft makes a controlled Earth re-entry preventing any unintended release of Martian materials into the Earth's biosphere. The mission can start in any one of three Earth to Mars launch opportunities, beginning in 2022.

Commercial↗
NASA NTRS2014

Airborne Polarimeter Intercomparison for the NASA Aerosols-Clouds-Ecosystems (ACE) Mission

The Aerosols-Clouds-Ecosystems (ACE) mission, recommended by the National Research Council's Decadal Survey, calls for a multi-angle, multi-spectral polarimeter devoted to observations of atmospheric aerosols and clouds. In preparation for ACE, NASA funds the deployment of airborne polarimeters, including the Airborne Multi-angle SpectroPolarimeter Imager (AirMSPI), the Passive Aerosol and Cloud Suite (PACS) and the Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP). These instruments have been operated together on NASA's ER-2 high altitude aircraft as part of field campaigns such as the POlarimeter DEfinition EXperiment (PODEX) (California, early 2013) and Studies of Emissions and Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS, California and Texas, summer 2013). Our role in these efforts has been to serve as an assessment team performing level 1 (calibrated radiance, polarization) and level 2 (retrieved geophysical parameter) instrument intercomparisons, and to promote unified and generalized calibration, uncertainty assessment and retrieval techniques. We will present our progress in this endeavor thus far and describe upcoming research in 2015.

ACE↗
NASA NTRS2015

Shock Radiation Tests for Saturn and Uranus Entry Probes

This paper describes a test series in the Electric Arc Shock Tube at NASA Ames Research Center with the objective of quantifying shock-layer radiative heating magnitudes for future probe entries into Saturn and Uranus atmospheres. Normal shock waves are measured in Hydrogen/Helium mixtures (89:11 by mole) at freestream pressures between 13-66 Pa (0.1-0.5 Torr) and velocities from 20-30 km/s. No shock layer radiation is detected below 25 km/s, a finding consistent with predictions for Uranus entries. Between 25-30 km/s, radiance is quantified from the Vacuum Ultraviolet through Near Infrared, with focus on the Lyman-alpha and Balmer series lines of Hydrogen. Shock profiles are analyzed for electron number density and electronic state distribution. The shocks do not equilibrate over several cm, and distributions are demonstrated to be non-Boltzmann. Radiation data are compared to simulations of Decadal survey entries for Saturn and shown to be significantly lower than predicted with the Boltzmann radiation model.

Saturn Probe↗
NASA NTRS2014

Progress in Airborne Polarimeter Inter Comparison for the NASA Aerosols-Clouds-Ecosystems (ACE) Mission

The Aerosols-Clouds-Ecosystems (ACE) mission, recommended by the National Research Council's Decadal Survey, calls for a multi-angle, multi-spectral polarimeter devoted to observations of atmospheric aerosols and clouds. In preparation for ACE, NASA funds the deployment of airborne polarimeters, including the Airborne Multiangle SpectroPolarimeter Imager (AirMSPI), the Passive Aerosol and Cloud Suite (PACS) and the Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP). These instruments have been operated together on NASA's ER-2 high altitude aircraft as part of field campaigns such as the POlarimeter DEfinition EXperiment (PODEX) (California, early 2013) and Studies of Emissions and Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS, California and Texas, summer 2013). Our role in these efforts has been to serve as an assessment team performing level 1 (calibrated radiance, polarization) and level 2 (retrieved geophysical parameter) instrument intercomparisons, and to promote unified and generalized calibration, uncertainty assessment and retrieval techniques. We will present our progress in this endeavor thus far and describe upcoming research in 2015.

Airborne↗
NASA NTRS2016

Investigating the Origin and Evolution of Venus with in Situ Mass Spectrometry

The exploration of Venus continues to be a top priority of planetary science. The Planetary Decadal Survey goals for inner-planet exploration seek to discern the origin and diversity of terrestrial planets, understand how the evolution of terrestrial planets relates to the evolution of life, and explore the processes that control climate on Earth-like planets. These goals can only be realized through continued and extensive exploration of Venus, the most mysterious of the terrestrial planets, remarkably different from the Earth despite the gross similarities between these "twin planets". It is unknown if this apparent divergence was intrinsic, programmed during accretion from distinct nebular reservoirs, or a consequence of either measured or catastrophic processes during planetary evolution. Even if the atmosphere of Venus is a more "recent" development, its relationship to the resurfacing of the planet's enigmatic surface is not well understood. Resolving such uncertainties directly addresses the hypothesis of a more clement, possibly water-rich era in Venus' past as well as whether Earth could become more Venus-like in the future.

origin and evolution↗
NASA NTRS2014

NASA's Physics of the Cosmos and Cosmic Origins Technology Development Programs

NASA's Physics of the Cosmos (PCOS) and Cosmic Origins (COR) Program Offices, established in 2011, reside at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The offices serve as the implementation arm for the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters. We present an overview of the programs' technology development activities and technology investment portfolio, funded by NASA's Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT) program. We currently fund 19 technology advancements to enable future PCOS and COR missions to help answer the questions "How did our universe begin and evolve?" and "How did galaxies, stars, and planets come to be?" We discuss the process for addressing community-provided technology gaps and Technology Management Board (TMB)-vetted prioritization and investment recommendations that inform the SAT program. The process improves the transparency and relevance of our technology investments, provides the community a voice in the process, and promotes targeted external technology investments by defining needs and identifying customers. The programs' goal is to promote and support technology development needed to enable missions envisioned by the National Research Council's (NRC) "New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics" (NWNH) Decadal Survey report [1] and the Astrophysics Implementation Plan (AIP) [2]. These include technology development for dark energy, gravitational waves, X-ray and inflation probe science, and a 4m-class UV/optical telescope to conduct imaging and spectroscopy studies, as a post-Hubble observatory with significantly improved sensitivity and capability.

Technology Management Board (TMB)↗