Leveraging Commercial Space for Earth and Ocean Remote Sensing (2022) / Chapter Skim
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4 Science and Applications
4 Science and Applications
Pages 43-57
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From page 43... ...
is that the demand for new data will drive innovation, and broaden the spectrum of space technology, which allows entry of new players as part of the New Space ecosystem. As discussed in this chapter, and further examined in Chapter 5, a healthy and growing New Space ecosystem driven by HSA and other government needs, when enabled by incentivized commercial partnerships, offers the potential benefits of lower cost and faster response at every level of the space system business.
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From page 44... ...
Observing the Earth system and its evolution is a great challenge considering the multitude of processes occurring in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and solid Earth, and their complex mutual interactions on a broad range of spatial and temporal scales. For more than three decades, NASA and other space agencies worldwide have launched multiple large and small traditional space missions in different orbital inclinations and altitudes, carrying a large variety of instruments for monitoring weather patterns; atmospheric dynamics and composition; ocean circulation and sea state; climate change and variability; land and marine ecosystems; land use change; water; energy and carbon cycles; solid Earth rotation and deformations; gravity and magnetic fields; as well as other processes.
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From page 45... ...
CYGNSS measurements of soil moisture are able to track sub-daily water cycle dynamics, which significantly improves global land surface models.5 This is also true for many other areas in Earth observation, such as hydrology and coastal zone change monitoring. Improved Temporal Sampling The revisit time provided by a SmallSat constellation in LEO will scale with the number of satellites (designated as "N" in this discussion)
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From page 46... ...
It is noteworthy that there are also low data latency needs with larger traditional space sensors observing both extreme weather and more typical weather conditions, and the supporting communication infrastructure, such as networks of ground stations, already exists. Two significant differences in the case of SmallSat constellations are (1)
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From page 47... ...
Commercial organizations are now advancing the deployable radar antenna technology demonstrated on RainCube for future science measurements as well as nonscience applications where radar measurements can be applied to situational awareness, surveillance, FIGURE 4.3 TEMPEST-D and RainCube Data. These missions image Typhoon Trami on September 28, 2018, from the International Space Station (ISS)
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From page 48... ...
As part of this demonstration in September 2021, Spire Global received a contract from NOAA to purchase commercial radio occultation data for satellite weather data delivery. These data will be assimilated into numerical weather prediction models to reduce uncertainties in weather forecasting and will be shared with international meteorological organizations as well as the government.
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From page 49... ...
On a slightly larger scale, the CYGNSS mission is an example of a constellation of eight identical ~25 kg SmallSats in circular LEO orbit.14,15 While government funded, the CYGNSS mission is also led by an academic institution, the University of Michigan, which had full control over all aspects of mission execution both preand post-launch. Each spacecraft carries a four-channel bistatic radar receiver tuned to measure GPS navigation 12 Capella Space, 2020, "Capella Unveils World's Highest Resolution Commercial SAR Imagery," December 16, https://www.capellaspace.
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Ribó, and A Rius, 2019, Assessment of spaceborne GNSS-R ocean altimetry performance using CYGNSS mission raw data, Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 58(1)
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From page 51... ...
Numerous missions carrying a broad variety of increasingly sophisticated sensors routinely measure sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity, surface winds and waves, surface currents, sea ice, sea level, and ocean color. These data allow improved knowledge about the role of the oceans on climate; on climate variability (e.g., El Niño-Southern Oscillation [ENSO]
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From page 52... ...
For example, satellites carrying different sensors can provide diverse observations of the same target, of particular relevance to monitoring vulnerable coastal zones changes under natural and anthropogenic forcing.30,31 The wide variety of remote sensing modalities included on the NASA A-Train,32 and the resulting breadth of scientific investigations they were able to support, are an excellent example of this. In addition, constellations of SmallSats in different orbital planes, similar to the GPS constellation, can provide permanent global coverage.
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From page 53... ...
This will provide improved initialization of numerical weather forecasts in support of scientific studies and will also allow short-term extreme weather events to be better tracked and imaged in support of situational awareness for disaster management. Monitoring and Providing Operational Support for Natural and Human-Made Disasters SmallSat constellations dedicated to surveying major disasters would be a ground-breaking application of this new technology, in ways that can serve Earth observation needs with extremely high societal relevance.
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From page 54... ...
As part of its future Earth observation program, the European Space Agency (ESA) has recently developed a new initiative called "Scout," consisting of SmallSats that add scientific value to data from current larger missions of the ESA Earth Explorer program and the Copernicus Sentinel missions.41 The objective is to demonstrate the capability of SmallSats to deliver value-added science, either by miniaturization of existing technologies or by developing new sensing techniques.
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From page 55... ...
Most of the infrastructure capabilities and processes required to sustain high-quality SmallSat constellation science measurements such as onboard processing capability, ground operational support, cybersecurity, supply chain security, safety and mission assurance, and interoperability standards will run in parallel with those of HSA (see Chapter 3)
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From page 56... ...
To summarize, in view of their shorter development phase, lower cost, increased temporal resolution, and other benefits, SmallSats are of growing relevance in various fields of the Earth sciences. However, they would not entirely replace larger missions owing to the inherent technical limitations that have been discussed.
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From page 57... ...
RECOMMENDATION: As part of its ongoing relationship with academic institutions the Office of Naval Research should examine emerging advanced sensor and associated technology opportunities that benefit future ocean science objectives and missions.45 45 This recommendation was edited after release to the sponsor to delete reference to the National Oceanographic Partnership Program. This clarifies that the committee is recommending that ONR take this step in support of its own objectives and missions.
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