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NASA’s Ocean Observing Strategy:

An Engineer’s Perspective

Laura Rogers*

Associate, Earth Science Technology OfficeOctober 29, 2019

* This talk draws on inputs from numerous colleagues from NASA HQ.

Current Earth Science Observations

Earth Observations in Action

Marsh Vulnerability in the Plum Island Estuary:

Sediment Supply Quantification

Helping Cities Stay Dry when Sea Levels Rise:Predicting Building Inundation

Image credit: Betty Flowers

Warming Up a Cup of Sunshine:

Informed Solar Wall Placement for Wicked Joe’s Organic Coffee

Image credit: Spark Applied Efficiency

Image credit: NASA DEVELOP

Near-Term Missions

Advanced radar imaging to observe some of

the planet's most complex processes, including

ecosystem disturbances, ice-sheet collapse,

and natural hazards such as

earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes

and landslides (2022)

NASA’s hyperspectral observations of ocean

biology, chemistry and ecology in the Gulf of

Mexico, sections of the south-eastern

US coastline, and the Amazon River

plume. (2026)

PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud Ecosystem)

Measure the distribution of phytoplankton, tiny

plants and algae that sustain the marine food

web. Systematic records of key

atmospheric variables associated

with air quality and climate (2022)

Global determination of the ocean circulation,

kinetic energy and dissipation at high

resolution. Global inventory of

fresh water storage changes, river

discharge and flux (2021)

SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography)

NISAR(NASA ISRO SAR Mission)

GLIMR (Geo-synchronous Littoral Imaging and

Monitoring Radiometer )

New Observing & Exploration Strategies

New Programmatic Environment:

• Smaller Budgets

• Various Partners: OGAs, Industry,

Academia, International

• New and Unique Science Measurements

vs. Dedicated Missions

• Varied Launch and Deployment

Opportunities

New Technology Environment:

• Novel Instrument Design

• Smaller Spacecraft and Components for

reduced Size, Weight and Power (SWAP)

• Constellations vs. Monolithic Missions

2017 Decadal Survey:

Designated Observables*

Aerosol and Cloud

convection and

precipitation (A-CCP)

Surface, Biology and

Geology (SBG)

Surface Deformation

and Change (SDC)

Mass Change (MC)

*Actively pursuing industry and non-traditional partnerships

Technology Drivers

HARDWARE:

• Instrument Miniaturization (Freeform

Optics, Photonic Integrated Circuits, etc.)

• Novel Components (Metamaterials, etc.)

• Smaller Spacecraft (CubeSats and

Nanosats)

• High Performance Space Processors

SOFTWARE:

• Big Data Analysis and Machine Learning

• Artificial Intelligence

• Autonomous Decision Making

• Onboard Computing

• Intelligent & Collaborative

Constellations/Sensor WebsMarCO cubesat Photo credit: NASA

Badrinarayanan et al., 2015

Tech for Future NASA Applications

Two Main AreasScience Advancement

• Big Data and Data Analytics: Computer Aided Scientific Discovery/Discover events of interest and correlations in large amounts of data

• Improvements and Support to forecasting and science modeling and data assimilation

• New Observing Strategies (NOS)

Improved Mission Engineering and Agile Mission Operations (Onboard or on the Ground)

• Semi-autonomy and autonomy for decision making

• Anomaly and fault detection

• Engineering Support

• Advanced Interfaces

Technologies: Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Intelligent Search, Computer Vision, Data Fusion, Interactive Visualization and Analytics, …

Technologies: Planning & Scheduling, Intelligent Agents, Cognitive and Knowledge-Based Systems, Reasoning, Natural Language, …