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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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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A UNIQUE APPROACH TO ACHIEVING SIZE-CONSTRAINED QUASI-HALO ORBITS FOR THE ROMAN SPACE TELESCOPE

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (RST) is an infrared space observatory planned for launch in the mid-2020’s. The launch window design for RST is subject to a wide variety of simultaneous requirements that require careful consideration and control of mission orbits and the trajectories used to achieve them. This work describes an innovative methodology that blends classical methods with modern manifold approaches and numerical optimization to flexibly determine optimal transfers to desriable mission orbits for any day of the year.Solutions found with this highly automated strategy are gaurunteed to meet requirements by construction. Results show that RST can launch for 80% of the year using maneuvers that are well within the fuel budget, significantly reducing cost and risk to the mission

Lauren Schlenker↗
NASA NTRS1986

The Giotto ion mass spectrometer

The Giotto Ion Mass Spectrometer (IMS) consists of two sensors: one optimized for the outer and the other for the inner coma, with each obtaining complementary information in the region for which it is not optimized. The outer coma is characterized by the interaction between solar wind and comentary plasmas, the inner coma by the outflow of cometary neutrals and their ionization products. Both sensors feature mass imaging characteristics, permitting simultaneous measurements of several ion species by multidetector arrays. Resultant mass-per-charge resolution is greater than or = 20. Energy per charge, and the elevation and aximuth of incident ions are measured. Calibration and in-flight solar-wind data show that the IMS will meet its scientific goals for the Halley encounter.

Balsiger, H.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Supervised autonomous rendezvous and docking system technology evaluation

Technology for manned space flight is mature and has an extensive history of the use of man-in-the-loop rendezvous and docking, but there is no history of automated rendezvous and docking. Sensors exist that can operate in the space environment. The Shuttle radar can be used for ranges down to 30 meters, Japan and France are developing laser rangers, and considerable work is going on in the U.S. However, there is a need to validate a flight qualified sensor for the range of 30 meters to contact. The number of targets and illumination patterns should be minimized to reduce operation constraints with one or more sensors integrated into a robust system for autonomous operation. To achieve system redundancy, it is worthwhile to follow a parallel development of qualifying and extending the range of the 0-12 meter MSFC sensor and to simultaneously qualify the 0-30(+) meter JPL laser ranging system as an additional sensor with overlapping capabilities. Such an approach offers a redundant sensor suite for autonomous rendezvous and docking. The development should include the optimization of integrated sensory systems, packaging, mission envelopes, and computer image processing to mimic brain perception and real-time response. The benefits of the Global Positioning System in providing real-time positioning data of high accuracy must be incorporated into the design. The use of GPS-derived attitude data should be investigated further and validated.

Marzwell, Neville I.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Trajectory optimization for the national aerospace plane

During the past six months the research objectives outlined in the last semi-annual report were accomplished. Specifically, these are: three-dimensional (3-D) fuel-optimal ascent trajectory of the aerospace plane and the effects of thrust vectoring control (TVC) on the fuel consumption and trajectory shaping were investigated; the maximum abort landing area (footprint) was studied; preliminary assessment of simultaneous design of the ascent trajectory and the vehicle configuration for the aerospace plane was also conducted. The work accomplished in the reporting period is summarized.

Lu, Ping↗
NASA NTRS1993

Parallel algorithm for dominant points correspondences in robot binocular stereo vision

This paper presents an algorithm to find the correspondences of points representing dominant feature in robot stereo vision. The algorithm consists of two main steps: dominant point extraction and dominant point matching. In the feature extraction phase, the algorithm utilizes the widely used Moravec Interest Operator and two other operators: the Prewitt Operator and a new operator called Gradient Angle Variance Operator. The Interest Operator in the Moravec algorithm was used to exclude featureless areas and simple edges which are oriented in the vertical, horizontal, and two diagonals. It was incorrectly detecting points on edges which are not on the four main directions (vertical, horizontal, and two diagonals). The new algorithm uses the Prewitt operator to exclude featureless areas, so that the Interest Operator is applied only on the edges to exclude simple edges and to leave interesting points. This modification speeds-up the extraction process by approximately 5 times. The Gradient Angle Variance (GAV), an operator which calculates the variance of the gradient angle in a window around the point under concern, is then applied on the interesting points to exclude the redundant ones and leave the actual dominant ones. The matching phase is performed after the extraction of the dominant points in both stereo images. The matching starts with dominant points in the left image and does a local search, looking for corresponding dominant points in the right image. The search is geometrically constrained the epipolar line of the parallel-axes stereo geometry and the maximum disparity of the application environment. If one dominant point in the right image lies in the search areas, then it is the corresponding point of the reference dominant point in the left image. A parameter provided by the GAV is thresholded and used as a rough similarity measure to select the corresponding dominant point if there is more than one point the search area. The correlation is used as a final decision tool when there is still more than one point in the search area. If there is no dominant point in the search area of if the points in the search area are below a correlation threshold, then the dominant point in the reference image is occluded and can not be corresponded. The algorithm has been modeled, implemented and shown to be fast, robust and parallel. The parallelism is created from three main features: locality of the operators; a memory optimization scheme; and the ability to fully parallelize the extraction phase which is the most computational intensive task in the algorithm. The last feature is achieved by performing the extraction phase on the two images simultaneously.

Al-Tammami, A.↗
NASA NTRS1999

1999 NASA High-Speed Research Program Aerodynamic Performance Workshop: Configuration Aerodynamics - Volume 1

NASA's High-Speed Research Program sponsored the 1999 Aerodynamic Performance Technical Review on February 8-12, 1999 in Anaheim, California. The review was designed to bring together NASA and industry High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) Aerodynamic Performance technology development participants in the areas of Configuration Aerodynamics (transonic and supersonic cruise drag prediction and minimization), High Lift, and Flight Controls. The review objectives were to: (1) report the progress and status of HSCT aerodynamic performance technology development; (2) disseminate this technology within the appropriate technical communities; and (3) promote synergy among the scientists and engineers working on HSCT aerodynamics. In particular, single and midpoint optimized HSCT configurations, HSCT high-lift system performance predictions, and HSCT simulation results were presented, along with executive summaries for all the Aerodynamic Performance technology areas. The HSR Aerodynamic Performance Technical Review was held simultaneously with the annual review of the following airframe technology areas: Materials and Structures, Environmental Impact, Flight Deck, and Technology Integration. Thus, a fourth objective of the Review was to promote synergy between the Aerodynamic Performance technology area and the other technology areas of the HSR Program. This Volume 1/Part 1 publication covers configuration aerodynamics.

Hahne, David E.↗
NASA NTRS1999

1999 NASA High-Speed Research Program Aerodynamic Performance Workshop: High Lift - Volume 2

NASA's High-Speed Research Program sponsored the 1999 Aerodynamic Performance Technical Review on February 8-12, 1999 in Anaheim, California. The review was designed to bring together NASA and industry High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) Aerodynamic Performance technology development participants in the areas of Configuration Aerodynamics (transonic and supersonic cruise drag prediction and minimization), High Lift, and Flight Controls. The review objectives were to (1) report the progress and status of HSCT aerodynamic performance technology development; (2) disseminate this technology within the appropriate technical communities; and (3) promote synergy among die scientists and engineers working on HSCT aerodynamics. In particular, single and midpoint optimized HSCT configurations, HSCT high-lift system performance predictions, and HSCT simulation results were presented, along with executive summaries for all the Aerodynamic Performance technology areas. The HSR Aerodynamic Performance Technical Review was held simultaneously with the annual review of the following airframe technology areas: Materials and Structures, Environmental Impact, Flight Deck, and Technology Integration. Thus, a fourth objective of the Review was to promote synergy between the Aerodynamic Performance technology area and the other technology areas of the HSR Program. This Volume 2/Part 2 publication covers the tools and methods development session.

Hahne, David E.↗
NASA NTRS1999

1998 NASA High-Speed Research Program Aerodynamic Performance Workshop: Configuration Aerodynamics - Volume 1

NASA's High-Speed Research Program sponsored the 1998 Aerodynamic Performance Technical Review on February 9-13, in Los Angeles, California. The review was designed to bring together NASA and industry HighSpeed Civil Transport (HSCT) Aerodynamic Performance technology development participants in areas of. Configuration Aerodynamics (transonic and supersonic cruise drag prediction and minimization), High-Lift, and Flight Controls. The review objectives were to: (1) report the progress and status of HSCT aerodynamic performance technology development; (2) disseminate this technology within the appropriate technical communities; and (3) promote synergy among the scientists and engineers working HSCT aerodynamics. In particular, single and multi-point optimized HSCT configurations, HSCT high-lift system performance predictions, and HSCT simulation results were presented along with executive summaries for all the Aerodynamic Performance technology areas. The HSR Aerodynamic Performance Technical Review was held simultaneously with the annual review of the following airframe technology areas: Materials and Structures, Environmental Impact, Flight Deck, and Technology Integration. Thus, a fourth objective of the Review was to promote synergy between the Aerodynamic Performance technology area and the other technology areas of the HSR Program.

High-speed research↗
NASA NTRS1999

1998 NASA High-Speed Research Program Aerodynamic Performance Workshop: High Lift - Volume 2

NASA's High-Speed Research Program sponsored the 1998 Aerodynamic Performance Technical Review on February 9-13, in Los Angeles, California. The review was designed to bring together NASA and industry High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) Aerodynamic Performance technology development participants in areas of Configuration Aerodynamics (transonic and supersonic cruise drag prediction and minimization), High-Lift, and Flight Controls. The review objectives were to (1) report the progress and status of HSCT aerodynamic performance technology development; (2) disseminate this technology within the appropriate technical communities; and (3) promote synergy among the scientists and engineers working HSCT aerodynamics. In particular, single- and multi-point optimized HSCT configurations, HSCT high-lift system performance predictions, and HSCT simulation results were presented along with executive summaries for all the Aerodynamic Performance technology areas. The HSR Aerodynamic Performance Technical Review was held simultaneously with the annual review of the following airframe technology areas: Materials and Structures, Environmental Impact, Flight Deck, and Technology Integration. Thus, a fourth objective of the Review was to promote synergy between the Aerodynamic Performance technology area and the other technology areas of the HSR Program.

S. Naomi Mcmillin↗
NASA NTRS1999

1998 NASA High-Speed Research Program Aerodynamic Performance Workshop: Configuration Aerodynamics - Volume 1

NASA's High-Speed Research Program sponsored the 1998 Aerodynamic Performance Technical Review on February 9-13, in Los Angeles, California. The review was designed to bring together NASA and industry High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) Aerodynamic Performance technology development participants in areas of Configuration Aerodynamics (transonic and supersonic cruise drag prediction and minimization), High-Lift, and Flight Controls. The review objectives were to (1) report the progress and status of HSCT aerodynamic performance technology development; (2) disseminate this technology within the appropriate technical communities; and (3) promote synergy among the scientists and engineers working HSCT aerodynamics. In particular, single and multi-point optimized HSCT configurations, HSCT high-lift system performance predictions, and HSCT simulation results were presented along with executive summaries for all the Aerodynamic Performance technology areas. The HSR Aerodynamic Performance Technical Review was held simultaneously with the annual review of the following airframe technology areas: Materials and Structures, Environmental Impact, Flight Deck, and Technology Integration. Thus, a fourth objective of the Review was to promote synergy between the Aerodynamic Performance technology area and the other technology areas of the HSR Program.

McMillin, S. Naomi↗
NASA NTRS2001

AMINO ACID ANALYSES OF THE ANTARCTIC CM2 METEORITES ALH 83100 AND LEW 90500 USING LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY-TIME OF FLIGHT-MASS SPECTROMETRY

The investigation of organic compounds in primitive carbonaceous meteorites provides a record of the chemical processes that occurred in the early solar system. In particular, amino acids have been shown to be potential indicators in tracing the nature of carbonaceous chondrite parent bodies [ 13. The delivery of amino acids by carbonaceous chondrites to the early Earth could have been any important source of the Earth's prebiotic organic inventory [2]. Over 80 different amino acids have been detected in the Murchison CM2 meteorite, most of them completely non-existent in the terrestrial biosphere [3]. We have optimized a new liquid chromatography-time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (LC-ToF-MS) technique coupled with OPAMAC derivatization in order to detect amino acids in meteorite extracts by UV fluorescence and exact mass simultaneously. The detection limit of the LC-ToF-MS instrument for amino acids is at least 3 orders of magnitude lower than traditional GC-MS techniques. Here we report on the first analyses of amino acids and their enantiomeric abundances in the CM2 carbonaceous meteorites ALH 83100, LEW 90500, and Murchison using this new LC-ToF-MS instrument configuration. Amino acid analyses of any kind for the CM meteorite ALH 83100 have not previously been reported.

Glavin, D. P.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Phototransistors Development and their Applications to Lidar

Custom-designed two-micron phototransistors have been developed using Liquid Phase Epitaxy (LPE), Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) and Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) techniques under Laser Risk Reduction Program (LRRP). The devices were characterized in the Detector Characterization Laboratory at NASA Langley Research Center. It appears that the performance of LPE- and MBE-grown phototransistors such as responsivity, noise-equivalent-power, and gain, are better than MOCVD-grown devices. Lidar tests have been conducted using LPE and MBE devices under the 2-micrometer CO2 Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) Instrument Incubator Program (IIP) at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, Colorado. The main focus of these tests was to examine the phototransistors performances as compared to commercial InGaAs avalanche photodiode by integrating them into the Raman-shifted Eye-safe Aerosol Lidar (REAL) operating at 1.543 micrometers. A simultaneous measurement of the atmospheric backscatter signals using the LPE phototransistors and the commercial APD demonstrated good agreement between these two devices. On the other hand, simultaneous detection of lidar backscatter signals using MBE-grown phototransistor and InGaAs APD, showed a general agreement between these two devices with a lower performance than LPE devices. These custom-built phototransistors were optimized for detection around 2-micrometer wavelength while the lidar tests were performed at 1.543 micrometers. Phototransistor operation at 2-micron will improve the performance of a lidar system operating at that wavelength. Measurements include detecting hard targets (Rocky Mountains), atmospheric structure consisting of cirrus clouds and boundary layer. These phototransistors may have potential for high sensitivity differential absorption lidar measurements of carbon dioxide and water vapor at 2.05-micrometers and 1.9-micrometers, respectively.

Abedin, M. N.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Electronic neural network for dynamic resource allocation

A VLSI implementable neural network architecture for dynamic assignment is presented. The resource allocation problems involve assigning members of one set (e.g. resources) to those of another (e.g. consumers) such that the global 'cost' of the associations is minimized. The network consists of a matrix of sigmoidal processing elements (neurons), where the rows of the matrix represent resources and columns represent consumers. Unlike previous neural implementations, however, association costs are applied directly to the neurons, reducing connectivity of the network to VLSI-compatible 0 (number of neurons). Each row (and column) has an additional neuron associated with it to independently oversee activations of all the neurons in each row (and each column), providing a programmable 'k-winner-take-all' function. This function simultaneously enforces blocking (excitatory/inhibitory) constraints during convergence to control the number of active elements in each row and column within desired boundary conditions. Simulations show that the network, when implemented in fully parallel VLSI hardware, offers optimal (or near-optimal) solutions within only a fraction of a millisecond, for problems up to 128 resources and 128 consumers, orders of magnitude faster than conventional computing or heuristic search methods.

Thakoor, A. P.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Navigation Strategy for the Mars 2001 Lander Mission

The Mars Surveyor Program (MSP) is an ongoing series of missions designed to robotically study, map and search for signs of life on the planet Mars. The MSP 2001 project will advance the effort by sending an orbiter, a lander and a rover to the red planet in the 2001 opportunity. Each vehicle will carry a science payload that will Investigate the Martian environment on both a global and on a local scale. Although this mission will not directly search for signs of life, or cache samples to be returned to Earth, it will demonstrate certain enabling technologies that will be utilized by the future Mars Sample Return missions. One technology that is needed for the Sample Return mission is the capability to place a vehicle on the surface within several kilometers of the targeted landing site. The MSP'01 Lander will take the first major step towards this type of precision landing at Mars. Significant reduction of the landed footprint will be achieved through two technology advances. The first, and most dramatic, is hypersonic aeromaneuvering; the second is improved approach navigation. As a result, the guided entry will produce in a footprint that is only tens of kilometers, which is an order of magnitude improvement over the Pathfinder and Mars Polar Lander ballistic entries. This reduction will significantly enhance scientific return by enabling the potential selection of otherwise unreachable landing sites with unique geologic interest and public appeal. A landed footprint reduction from hundreds to tens of kilometers is also a milestone on the path towards human exploration of Mars, where the desire is to place multiple vehicles within several hundred meters of the planned landing site. Hypersonic aeromaneuvering is an extension of the atmospheric flight goals of the previous landed missions, Pathfinder and Mars Polar Lander (MPL), that utilizes aerodynamic lift and an autonomous guidance algorithm while in the upper atmosphere. The onboard guidance algorithm will control the direction of the lift vector, via bank angle modulation, to keep the vehicle on the desired trajectory. While numerous autonomous guidance algorithms have been developed for use during hypersonic flight at Earth, this will be the first flight of an autonomously directed lifting entry vehicle at Mars. However, without sufficient control and knowledge of the atmospheric entry conditions, the guidance algorithm will not perform effectively. The goal of the interplanetary navigation strategy is to deliver the spacecraft to the desired entry condition with sufficient accuracy and knowledge to enable satisfactory guidance algorithm performance. Specifically, the entry flight path angle must not exceed 0.27 deg. to a 3 sigma confidence level. Entry errors will contribute directly to the size of the landed footprint and the most significant component is entry flight path angle. The size of the entry corridor is limited on the shallow side by integrated heating constraints, and on the steep side by deceleration (g-load) and terminal descent propellant. In order to meet this tight constraint it is necessary to place a targeting maneuver seven hours prior to the time of entry. At this time the trajectory knowledge will be quite accurate, and the effects of maneuver execution errors will be small. The drawback is that entry accuracy is dependent on the success of this final late maneuver. Because propulsive maneuvers are critical events, it is desirable to minimize their occurrence and provide the flight team with as much response time as possible in the event of a spacecraft fault. A mission critical maneuver at Entry - 7 hours does not provide much fault tolerance, and it is desirable to provide a strategy that minimizes reliance on this maneuver. This paper will focus on the Improvements in interplanetary navigation that will decrease entry errors and will reduce the landed footprint, even in the absence of aeromaneuvering. The easiest to take advantage of are Improvements In the knowledge of the Mars ephemeris and gravity field due to the MGS and MSP'98 missions. Improvements In data collection and reduction techniques such as "precislon ranging' and near-simultaneous tracking will also be utilized. In addition to precise trajectory control, a robust strategy for communications and flight operations must also be demonstrated. The result Is a navigation and communications strategy on approach that utilizes optimal maneuver placement to take advantage of trajectory knowledge, minimizes risk for the flight operations team, is responsive to spacecraft hardware limitations, and achieves the entry corridor. The MSP2001 mission Is managed at JPL under the auspices of the Mars Exploration Directorate. The spacecraft flight elements are built and managed by Lockheed-Martin Astronautics in Denver, Colorado.

Mase, Robert A.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Response Surface Methods For Spatially-Resolved Optical Measurement Techniques

Response surface methods (or methodology), RSM, have been applied to improve data quality for two vastly different spatially-resolved optical measurement techniques. In the first application, modern design of experiments (MDOE) methods, including RSM, are employed to map the temperature field in a direct-connect supersonic combustion test facility at NASA Langley Research Center. The laser-based measurement technique known as coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) is used to measure temperature at various locations in the combustor. RSM is then used to develop temperature maps of the flow. Even though the temperature fluctuations at a single point in the flowfield have a standard deviation on the order of 300 K, RSM provides analytic fits to the data having 95% confidence interval half width uncertainties in the fit as low as +/- 30 K. Methods of optimizing future CARS experiments are explored. The second application of RSM is to quantify the shape of a 5-meter diameter, ultra-lightweight, inflatable space antenna at NASA Langley Research Center. Photogrammetry is used to simultaneously measure the shape of the antenna at approximately 500 discrete spatial locations. RSM allows an analytic model to be developed that describes the shape of the majority of the antenna with an uncertainty of 0.4 mm, with 95% confidence. This model would allow a quantitative comparison between the actual shape of the antenna and the original design shape. Accurately determining this shape also allows confident interpolation between the measured points. Such a model could, for example, be used for ray tracing of radio-frequency waves up to 95 GHz. to predict the performance of the antenna.

Danehy, P. M.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Altitude Variation of the CO2 (V2)-O Quenching Rate Coefficient in Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere

Among the processes governing the energy balance in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (mlt), the quenching of CO2(N2) vibrational levels by collisions with oxygen atoms plays an important role. However, the k(CO2-O) values measured in the lab and retrieved from atmospheric measurements vary from 1.5 x 10(exp -12) cubic centimeters per second through 9.0 x 10(exp -12) cubic centimeters per second that requires further studying. In this work we used synergistic data from a ground based lidar and a satellite infrared radiometer to estimate K(CO2-O). We used the night- and daytime temperatures between 80 and 110 km measured by the colorado state university narrow-band sodium (Na) lidar located at fort collins, colorado (41N, 255E) as ground truth of the saber/timed nearly simultaneous (plus or minus 10 minutes) and common volume (within plus or minus 1 degree in latitude, plus or minus 2 degrees in longitude) observations. For each altitude in 80-110 km interval we estimate an "optimal" value of K(CO2-O) needed to minimize the discrepancy between the simulated 15 mm CO2 radiance and that measured by the saber/timed instrument. The K(CO2-O) obtained in this way varies in altitude from 3.5 x 10(exp -12) cubic centimeters per second at 80 km to 5.2 x 10(exp -12) cubic centimeters pers second for altitudes above 95 km. We discuss this variation of the rate constant and its impact on temperature retrievals from 15 mm radiance measurements and on the energy budget of mlt.

Feofilovi, Artem↗
NASA NTRS2016

An Optimal-Estimation-Based Aerosol Retrieval Algorithm Using OMI Near-UV Observations

An optimal-estimation(OE)-based aerosol retrieval algorithm using the OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) near-ultraviolet observation was developed in this study. The OE-based algorithm has the merit of providing useful estimates of errors simultaneously with the inversion products. Furthermore, instead of using the traditional lookup tables for inversion, it performs online radiative transfer calculations with the VLIDORT (linearized pseudo-spherical vector discrete ordinate radiative transfer code) to eliminate interpolation errors and improve stability. The measurements and inversion products of the Distributed Regional Aerosol Gridded Observation Network campaign in northeast Asia (DRAGON NE-Asia 2012) were used to validate the retrieved aerosol optical thickness (AOT) and single scattering albedo (SSA). The retrieved AOT and SSA at 388 nm have a correlation with the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) products that is comparable to or better than the correlation with the operational product during the campaign. The OEbased estimated error represented the variance of actual biases of AOT at 388 nm between the retrieval and AERONET measurements better than the operational error estimates. The forward model parameter errors were analyzed separately for both AOT and SSA retrievals. The surface reflectance at 388 nm, the imaginary part of the refractive index at 354 nm, and the number fine-mode fraction (FMF) were found to be the most important parameters affecting the retrieval accuracy of AOT, while FMF was the most important parameter for the SSA retrieval. The additional information provided with the retrievals, including the estimated error and degrees of freedom, is expected to be valuable for relevant studies. Detailed advantages of using the OE method were described and discussed in this paper.

Air Pollution↗
NASA NTRS2017

Towards the Development of a Global, Satellite-based, Terrestrial Snow Mission Planning Tool

A global, satellite-based, terrestrial snow mission planning tool is proposed to help inform experimental mission design with relevance to snow depth and snow water equivalent (SWE). The idea leverages the capabilities of NASAs Land Information System (LIS) and the Tradespace Analysis Tool for Constellations (TAT C) to harness the information content of Earth science mission data across a suite of hypothetical sensor designs, orbital configurations, data assimilation algorithms, and optimization and uncertainty techniques, including cost estimates and risk assessments of each hypothetical orbital configuration.One objective the proposed observing system simulation experiment (OSSE) is to assess the complementary or perhaps contradictory information content derived from the simultaneous collection of passive microwave (radiometer), active microwave (radar), and LIDAR observations from space-based platforms. The integrated system will enable a true end-to-end OSSE that can help quantify the value of observations based on their utility towards both scientific research and applications as well as to better guide future mission design. Science and mission planning questions addressed as part of this concept include:1. What observational records are needed (in space and time) to maximize terrestrial snow experimental utility?2. How might observations be coordinated (in space and time) to maximize utility? 3. What is the additional utility associated with an additional observation?4. How can future mission costs being minimized while ensuring Science requirements are fulfilled?

Mission Design↗