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At least 73 records · Page 4

Operational LANDSAT remote sensing system development

The reduction of $121.6 million dollars from NOAA's LANDSAT development program for FY 1982, and the shortened time period for transferring remote sensing technology to the private sector resulted in changes in the Agency's plans for managing the operational system. Proposed legislation for congressional consideration or enactment to establish conditions under which this private sector transfer will occur, and the expected gradual rise in the price of data products are discussed. No money exists for capital investment and none is projected for investing in an operational data handling system for the LANDSAT D satellite. Candidates knowledgeable of various aspects of the needs and uses of remote sensing are urged to consider participation in NOAA's advisory committee.

Cotter, D. J.↗

Review and status of remote sensing of sea ice

The status of obtaining geophysical observations through the interpretation of satellite data over sea ice is discussed. It is pointed out that the community working in this area has grown in size and sophistication over the last decade, that the connection between microscopic properties of ice and its microwave behavior is now being understood, and that a good deal of accurate satellite-derived information on sea ice can now be obtained. Areas of ongoing, as well as needed, work are outlined, especially in the understanding of first-year- and old-ice microwave properties, and it is pointed out that the efficient advance of remote sensing will require more active participation of scientists focused on in situ studies.

Carsey, Frank↗

Orbital maneuvering vehicle remote piloting operations

The remote piloting of spacecraft is discussed using the orbital maneuvering vehicle (OMV) as a case in point. Some challenges to remotely piloted operations are listed. Approaches to solving operation problems are discussed for the two major participants in the loop tasks involved. These tasks are the remotely piloted docking task, and the task of ensuring that the rendezvous is successfully completed. Resulting changes to the OMV system are outlined. The outcome of these changes and the approaches taken in the OMV program are presented. Comparisons are drawn between philosophies and techniques used for Space Transportation System rendezvous and proximity operations, and those currently envisioned for OMV. Finally, a few of the lessons learned are summarized.

Veres, Michael L.↗

Remote Pilot Handoffs in Large UAS Multi-Vehicle Operations: Best Practices and Supportive Technologies

In response to pilot shortages and increasing air cargo demands, NASA's Pathfinding for Airspace with Autonomous Vehicles (PAAV) sub-project conducted the fourth in a series of tabletop studies investigating scalable solutions for integrating large Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System (NAS). This study solicited subject matter expertise to identify solutions to potential challenges for a further term vision, guiding participants through scenario-based discussions where the remote pilot (RP)-to-vehicle ratio has been scaled from 1:1 to m:N. Of those challenges, remote pilot handoffs were found throughout all phases of flight, both in nominal and non-nominal scenarios. The current paper details participant-suggested procedural and technological solutions for overcoming the handoff challenge, including determining the accepting RP, which aircraft to release, the location and timing of the transition, and options for supporting personnel, tools, and automation that could facilitate safe and efficient handoffs.

unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)↗

Remote Pilot Handoffs in Large UAS Multi-Vehicle Operations: Best Practices and Supportive Technologies

In response to pilot shortages and increasing air cargo demands, NASA's Pathfinding for Airspace with Autonomous Vehicles (PAAV) sub-project conducted the fourth in a series of tabletop studies investigating scalable solutions for integrating large Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System (NAS). This study solicited subject matter expertise to identify solutions to potential challenges for a further term vision, guiding participants through scenario-based discussions where the remote pilot (RP)-to-vehicle ratio has been scaled from 1:1 to m:N. Of those challenges, remote pilot handoffs were found throughout all phases of flight, both in nominal and non-nominal scenarios. The current paper details participant-suggested procedural and technological solutions for overcoming the handoff challenge, including determining the accepting RP, which aircraft to release, the location and timing of the transition, and options for supporting personnel, tools, and automation that could facilitate safe and efficient handoffs.

uncrewed aircraft systems↗

JPL initiative on historically black colleges and universities

Executive order number 12320 of September 15, 1981, established a program designed to significantly increase the participation of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU's) in Federal programs. Because of its geographical remoteness and position as a contractor operated center, JPL had not participated in grant and training programs with the HBCU's. In recognition of JPL's responsibility to the national commitment on behalf of the historically black colleges and universities, an initiative with effective, achievable guidelines and early progress for a better and more productive interaction between JPL and the HBCU's is described. Numerous areas of interaction with the historically black colleges and universities have been identified and are being inplemented. They have two broad objectives: research interactions and faculty/student interactions. Plans and progress to date for each specific area are summarized.

Allen, Lew↗

Application of remote sensing to state and regional problems

The primary purpose of the remote sensing applications program is for various members of the university community to participate in activities that improve the effective communication between the scientific community engaged in remote sensing research and development and the potential users of modern remote sensing technology. Activities of this program are assisting the State of Mississippi in recognizing and solving its environmental, resource and socio-economic problems through inventory, analysis, and monitoring by appropriate remote sensing systems. Objectives, accomplishments, and current status of the following individual projects are reported: (1) bark beetle project; (2) state park location planning; and (3) waste source location and stream channel geometry monitoring.

Miller, W. F.↗

The Cabauw Intercomparison Campaign for Nitrogen Dioxide Measuring Instruments (CINDI): Design, Execution, and Early Results

From June to July 2009 more than thirty different in-situ and remote sensing instruments from all over the world participated in the Cabauw Intercomparison campaign for Nitrogen Dioxide measuring Instruments (CINDI). The campaign took place at KNMI's Cabauw Experimental Site for Atmospheric Research (CESAR) in the Netherlands. Its main objectives were to determine the accuracy of state-ofthe- art ground-based measurement techniques for the detection of atmospheric nitrogen dioxide (both in-situ and remote sensing), and to investigate their usability in satellite data validation. The expected outcomes are recommendations regarding the operation and calibration of such instruments, retrieval settings, and observation strategies for the use in ground-based networks for air quality monitoring and satellite data validation. Twenty-four optical spectrometers participated in the campaign, of which twenty-one had the capability to scan different elevation angles consecutively, the so-called Multi-axis DOAS systems, thereby collecting vertical profile information, in particular for nitrogen dioxide and aerosol. Various in-situ samplers and lidar instruments simultaneously characterized the variability of atmospheric trace gases and the physical properties of aerosol particles. A large data set of continuous measurements of these atmospheric constituents has been collected under various meteorological conditions and air pollution levels. Together with the permanent measurement capability at the CESAR site characterizing the meteorological state of the atmosphere, the CINDI campaign provided a comprehensive observational data set of atmospheric constituents in a highly polluted region of the world during summertime. First detailed comparisons performed with the CINDI data show that slant column measurements of NO2, O4 and HCHO with MAX-DOAS agree within 5 to 15%, vertical profiles of NO2 derived from several independent instruments agree within 25% of one another, and MAX-DOAS aerosol optical thickness agrees within 20-30% with AERONET data. For the in-situ NO2 instrument using a molybdenum converter, a bias was found as large as 5 ppbv during day time, when compared to the other in-situ instruments using photolytic converters.

Atmospheric composition↗

Remote Measurement of Pollution-A 40-Year Langley Retrospective: Aerosols and Clouds - Part 2

A workshop was convened in 1971 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on the Remote Measurement of Pollution (RMOP), and the findings and recommendations of its participants are in a NASA Special Publication (NASA SP-285). The three primary workshop panels and their chairmen were focused on trace gas species (Will Kellogg), atmospheric particulates or aerosols (Verner Suomi), and water pollution (Gifford Ewing). Many of the workshop participants were specialists in the techniques that might be employed for regional to global-scale, remote measurements of the atmospheric parameters from Earth-orbiting satellites. In 2011 the author published a 40-year retrospective (or Part I) of the instrumental developments that were an outgrowth of the RMOP panel headed by Will Kellogg, i.e., on atmospheric temperature and gaseous species. The current report (or Part II) is an analogous retrospective of the vision of the panel led by Verner Suomi for the measurement of particulates (or aerosols) and clouds and for their effects on Earth s radiation budget. The class of measurement techniques includes laser radar or lidar, solar occultation, limb emission and scattering, nadir-viewing photometry or radiometry, and aerosol polarimetry. In addition, the retrospective refers to the scientific imperatives that led to those instrument developments of 1971-2010. Contributions of the atmospheric technologists at the Langley Research Center are emphasized, and their progress is placed in the context of the parallel and complementary work from within the larger atmospheric science community.

Remsberg, Ellis E.↗

Proceedings of the 1st Space Plasma Computer Analysis Network (SCAN) Workshop

The purpose of the workshop was to identify specific cooperative scientific study topics within the discipline of Ionosphere Magnetosphere Coupling processes and to develop methods and procedures to accomplish this cooperative research using SCAN facilities. Cooperative scientific research was initiated in the areas of polar cusp composition, O+ polar outflow, and magnetospheric boundary morphology studies and an approach using a common metafile structure was adopted to facilitate the exchange of data and plots between the various workshop participants. The advantages of in person versus remote workshops were discussed also.

Green, J. L.↗

From Prime to Extended Mission: Evolution of the MER Tactical Uplink Process

To support a 90-day surface mission for two robotic rovers, the Mars Exploration Rover mission designed and implemented an intensive tactical operations process, enabling daily commanding of each rover. Using a combination of new processes, custom software tools, a Mars-time staffing schedule, and seven-day-a-week operations, the MER team was able to compress the traditional weeks-long command-turnaround for a deep space robotic mission to about 18 hours. However, the pace of this process was never intended to be continued indefinitely. Even before the end of the three-month prime mission, MER operations began evolving towards greater sustainability. A combination of continued software tool development, increasing team experience, and availability of reusable sequences first reduced the mean process duration to approximately 11 hours. The number of workshifts required to perform the process dropped, and the team returned to a modified 'Earth-time' schedule. Additional process and tool adaptation eventually provided the option of planning multiple Martian days of activity within a single workshift, making 5-day-a-week operations possible. The vast majority of the science team returned to their home institutions, continuing to participate fully in the tactical operations process remotely. MER has continued to operate for over two Earth-years as many of its key personnel have moved on to other projects, the operations team and budget have shrunk, and the rovers have begun to exhibit symptoms of aging.

mission operations↗

From Prime to Extended Mission: Evolution of the MER Tactical Uplink Process

To support a 90-day surface mission for two robotic rovers, the Mars Exploration Rover mission designed and implemented an intensive tactical operations process, enabling daily commanding of each rover. Using a combination of new processes, custom software tools, a Mars-time staffing schedule, and seven-day-a-week operations, the MER team was able to compress the traditional weeks-long command-turnaround for a deep space robotic mission to about 18 hours. However, there was never an intention of maintaining the pace of this process indefinitely. Even before the end of the three-month prime mission, MER operations began evolving towards greater sustainability. A combination of continued software tool development, increasing team experience, and availability of reusable sequences first reduced the mean process duration to approximately 11 hours. The number of workshifts required to perform the process dropped, and the team returned to a modified 'Earth-time' schedule. Additional process and tool adaptation eventually provided the option of planning multiple Martian days of activity within a single workshift, making 5- day-a-week operations possible. The vast majority of the science team returned to their home institutions, continuing to participate fully in the tactical operations process remotely. MER has continued to operate for over two Earth-years as many of its key personnel have moved on to other projects, the operations team and budget have shrunk, and the rovers have begun to exhibit symptoms of aging.

Mars exploration↗

NASA Gulf of Mexico Initiative Hypoxia Research

The Applied Science & Technology Project Office at Stennis Space Center (SSC) manages NASA's Gulf of Mexico Initiative (GOMI). Addressing short-term crises and long-term issues, GOMI participants seek to understand the environment using remote sensing, in-situ observations, laboratory analyses, field observations and computational models. New capabilities are transferred to end-users to help them make informed decisions. Some GOMI activities of interest to the hypoxia research community are highlighted.

Armstrong, Curtis D.↗

Quantifying the Causes of Differences in Tropospheric OH Within Global Models

The hydroxyl radical (OH) is the primary daytime oxidant in the troposphere and provides the main loss mechanism for many pollutants and greenhouse gases, including methane (CH4). Global mean tropospheric OH differs by as much as 80% among various global models, for reasons that are not well understood. We use neural networks (NNs), trained using archived output from eight chemical transport models (CTMs) that participated in the Polar Study using Aircraft, Remote Sensing, Surface Measurements and Models, of Climate, Chemistry, Aerosols and Transport Model Intercomparison Project (POLMIP), to quantify the factors responsible for differences in tropospheric OH and resulting CH4 lifetime (Tau CH4) between these models. Annual average Tau CH4, for loss by OH only, ranges from 8.0 to 11.6 years for the eight POLMIP CTMs. The factors driving these differences were quantified by inputting 3-D chemical fields from one CTM into the trained NN of another CTM. Across all CTMs, the largest mean differences in Tau CH4 (Delta Tau CH4) result from variations in chemical mechanisms (Delta Tau CH4 = 0.46 years), the photolysis frequency (J) of O3 yields O(D-1) (0.31 years), local O3 (0.30 years), and CO (0.23 years). The Delta Tau CH4 due to CTM differences in NO(x) (NO + NO2) is relatively low (0.17 years), although large regional variation in OH between the CTMs is attributed to NO(x). Differences in isoprene and J(NO2) have negligible overall effect on globally averaged tropospheric OH, although the extent of OH variations due to each factor depends on the model being examined. This study demonstrates that NNs can serve as a useful tool for quantifying why tropospheric OH varies between global models, provided that essential chemical fields are archived.

Surface Measurements and Models↗

A 3D Simulation Platform for Decentralized Decision-Making in Advanced Air Mobility

This paper presents a general purpose, plug-and-play simulation platform for the use of future aviation stakeholders, such as urban airspace planners, air vehicle operators, ground operation managers, air traffic controllers and aviation researchers. The presented simulator platform is envisioned to serve as a toolkit to visualize, evaluate, and configure future advanced air mobility (AAM) operations. Highlighting features of this toolkit include a modular architecture that allows multiple smart unmanned aerial systems (UASs) to remotely connect to the simulation server and participate in decentralized decision-making scenario simulations. As an example of the decentralized decision-making scenario, an inter-agent negotiation-based conflict resolution use case is considered in this paper, where the UASs leverage the on-board/on-the-edge artificial intelligence (AI) capability to continually build situational awareness, and use this information to predict future conflicts and resolve them through machine-to-machine negotiation. As such operations are non-existent at scale currently, the presented simulation platform offers a viable and cost-effective alternative for assessing the efficacy of AAM research outcomes and challenges in future shared airspace usage. The simulation platform allows plug-n-play connectivity with AI and non-AI compute modules representing individual UAS’s flight control. Each module can interact with the simulation platform independently to communicate current and desired future states, situational awareness, and conflict resolution utilization costs for inter-agent negotiation. The simulation environment orchestrates realistic operational scenarios with spatiotemporal details, dynamic events, tactical conflict-resolution methods, interfaces for customizing air traffic control parameters, and information exchange uncertainties. In the future, this can serve as a community focused cloud simulation platform, incorporating multi-stakeholder airspace constraints from regulatory, government, city, and local agencies.

Aditya N Das↗

A 3D Simulation Platform for Decentralized Decision-Making in Advanced Air Mobility

This paper presents a general purpose, plug-and-play simulation platform for the use of future aviation stakeholders, such as urban airspace planners, air vehicle operators, ground operation managers, air traffic controllers and aviation researchers. The presented simulator platform is envisioned to serve as a toolkit to visualize, evaluate, and configure future advanced air mobility (AAM) operations. Highlighting features of this toolkit include a modular architecture that allows multiple smart unmanned aerial systems (UASs) to remotely connect to the simulation server and participate in decentralized decision-making scenario simulations. As an example of the decentralized decision-making scenario, an inter-agent negotiation-based conflict resolution use case is considered in this paper, where the UASs leverage the on-board/on-the-edge artificial intelligence (AI) capability to continually build situational awareness, and use this information to predict future conflicts and resolve them through machine-to-machine negotiation. As such operations are non-existent at scale currently, the presented simulation platform offers a viable and cost-effective alternative for assessing the efficacy of AAM research outcomes and challenges in future shared airspace usage. The simulation platform allows plug-n-play connectivity with AI and non-AI compute modules representing individual UAS’s flight control. Each module can interact with the simulation platform independently to communicate current and desired future states, situational awareness, and conflict resolution utilization costs for inter-agent negotiation. The simulation environment orchestrates realistic operational scenarios with spatiotemporal details, dynamic events, tactical conflict-resolution methods, interfaces for customizing air traffic control parameters, and information exchange uncertainties. In the future, this can serve as a community focused cloud simulation platform, incorporating multi-stakeholder airspace constraints from regulatory, government, city, and local agencies.

Aditya Das↗

Iron at the Air-Sea Interface (Final Report)

Workshop: Seventy-four scientists from twenty-three countries registered to participate and to present their experimental, modeling, and remote sensing studies related to atmospheric supply and speciation of aerosol iron (Fe), its contribution to the dissolved Fe inventory of the ocean, and its potential impacts on primary production and CO 2 uptake. Due to travel restrictions related to the ongoing pandemic, the meeting was conducted in a hybrid mode. The in-person portion of the meeting was held in Asheville, North Carolina and the online participants were able to join using two streaming platforms. The objective of this workshop was to address the most urgent open science questions for improved quantification of Fe at the air-sea interface. Iron is required for the growth of phytoplankton. The availability of iron can limit the growth of phytoplankton and thus the overall productivity of the marine ecosystem. Therefore, the atmospheric supply of iron to the surface oceans may play a key role in regulating biological productivity, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentrations, and possibly climate.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗