Session
Technical Session XI: Around the Corner
Abstract
NASA's Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) has been supporting the development of multiple CubeSats to advance various technologies for future Earth Science observations. The goal of this work is to support instrument and information systems technology risk reduction, through flight validation in the space environment, in support of the Earth Science Decadal Survey. Within the next 18 months three CubeSats will have completed system development and testing. Two will launch on GEMSat L-39 planned no earlier than December 2013 while the third will launch no earlier than October 2014. MCubed/COVE-2 (a reflight mission) will take mid-resolution images of the Earth at approximately 200m per pixel while carrying the COVE payload. COVE will validate a real-time high data rate image processing algorithm utilizing the radiation-hardened, space-grade Virtex-5QV FPGA by Xilinx. This is a key capability for the Multiangle Spectropolarimetric Imager (MSPI) instrument planned for the ACE Decadal Survey mission concept. The IPEX CubeSat will validate autonomous science and product delivery technologies demonstrating a twenty-times reduction in data volume for low-latency near real-time product generation. This technology supports the proposed HyspIRI mission concept VSWIR spectrometer and thermal IR imager. Finally, GRIFEX will perform engineering assessments of a state-of-the-art all digital in-pixel high frame rate Read-Out Integrated Circuit (ROIC). Its high throughput capacity will enable the GEO-CAPE mission concept to make hourly high spatial and spectral resolution measurements of rapidly changing atmospheric chemistry and pollution with the Panchromatic Fourier Transform Spectrometer (PanFTS) instrument.
Presentation Slides
NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office CubeSats for Technology Maturation
NASA's Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) has been supporting the development of multiple CubeSats to advance various technologies for future Earth Science observations. The goal of this work is to support instrument and information systems technology risk reduction, through flight validation in the space environment, in support of the Earth Science Decadal Survey. Within the next 18 months three CubeSats will have completed system development and testing. Two will launch on GEMSat L-39 planned no earlier than December 2013 while the third will launch no earlier than October 2014. MCubed/COVE-2 (a reflight mission) will take mid-resolution images of the Earth at approximately 200m per pixel while carrying the COVE payload. COVE will validate a real-time high data rate image processing algorithm utilizing the radiation-hardened, space-grade Virtex-5QV FPGA by Xilinx. This is a key capability for the Multiangle Spectropolarimetric Imager (MSPI) instrument planned for the ACE Decadal Survey mission concept. The IPEX CubeSat will validate autonomous science and product delivery technologies demonstrating a twenty-times reduction in data volume for low-latency near real-time product generation. This technology supports the proposed HyspIRI mission concept VSWIR spectrometer and thermal IR imager. Finally, GRIFEX will perform engineering assessments of a state-of-the-art all digital in-pixel high frame rate Read-Out Integrated Circuit (ROIC). Its high throughput capacity will enable the GEO-CAPE mission concept to make hourly high spatial and spectral resolution measurements of rapidly changing atmospheric chemistry and pollution with the Panchromatic Fourier Transform Spectrometer (PanFTS) instrument.
