3 SMOS and Aquarius/SAC-D Missions
49
In 2000, NASA was preparing to release an Announcement of Opportunity (AO)
for the Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) program. That same year, the
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) agreed
to develop jointly an ESSP mission concept and proposal for an Ocean Salinity
Measurement Mission (OSMM). They considered 3 mission concepts, including a
(1) single large aperture feed horn, (2) a three-beam pushbroom design, and (3) a
conically scanning antenna system. In December, 2000, the 3-beam pushbroom
concept was selected after considerable technical evaluation. This offered the best
trade-offs between system accuracy, sampling statistics and engineering complexity.
In January 2001, the OSMM concept was named Aquarius after the celestial
constellation of the same name. In ancient middle-east mythology, Aquarius was
the water-bearer whose appearance coincided with the rainy season, and in ancient
Egypt, the flooding of the Nile. The image is of a man pouring water on the earth
from a large urn. It is a suitable name for an earth science mission to explore how the
water cycle, ocean circulation and climate interact in an era of likely anthropogenic
climate change. The Aquarius Step 1 (science and mission concept) proposal was
submitted to NASA in July 2001 under the ESSP AO. Of the 18 Step 1 proposed
ESSP missions, Aquarius and five others were selected to proceed with a Step 2
(technical implementation and cost) proposal.
In November 2001, the Aquarius team agreed with the Argentina Comisión
Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE) to propose a joint mission for Step 2.
CONAE would furnish the satellite, mission operations and complementary sensors
at no cost to NASA. The mission would become the fourth Satélite de Aplicaciones
Científicas (SAC) developed by Argentina in partnership with the US. The SAC-D
science objectives are local measurements over Argentina and contribute to global
investigations of atmosphere, oceans and effects of human and natural processes on
the environment, as per the Argentine National Space Program strategic plan.
The Aquarius NASA proposal was to provide the salinity sensor, science, launch
vehicle and other implementation costs. The Step 2 proposal was completed in
January 2002, and Aquarius was selected in July 2002 as one of two primary
missions to proceed with further definition studies, along with one alternate. The
project was then directed to do a 1-year risk reduction study, during which time
the NASA-CONAE team re-configured the observatory design to allow CONAE
and third party instruments to be included and resembles the final configuration we
have today (Fig. 3.4). The mission formulation phase (Phase B) began in December
2003, leading to the system requirements reviews in August and September 2004,
and preliminary design reviews in June–August 2005. The NASA mission confirmation review in September 2005 marked the start of the implementation phase (Phase
C/D). The joint NASA-CONAE mission critical design review took place in Buenos
Aires, July 2008, and the present launch date is scheduled for autumn 2010.
A schematic of the mission profile is shown in Fig. 3.5. The design incorporates
several key functional elements. The pushbroom footprint pattern has a ∼390 km
wide swath consisting of 3 elliptical beam footprints of sizes 76 km × 94 km,
84 km × 120 km and 96 km × 156 km. The measurements will be relatively low
spatial resolution, as was stressed in Lagerloef et al. (1995, 2008) and most suited
49
In 2000, NASA was preparing to release an Announcement of Opportunity (AO)
for the Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) program. That same year, the
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) agreed
to develop jointly an ESSP mission concept and proposal for an Ocean Salinity
Measurement Mission (OSMM). They considered 3 mission concepts, including a
(1) single large aperture feed horn, (2) a three-beam pushbroom design, and (3) a
conically scanning antenna system. In December, 2000, the 3-beam pushbroom
concept was selected after considerable technical evaluation. This offered the best
trade-offs between system accuracy, sampling statistics and engineering complexity.
In January 2001, the OSMM concept was named Aquarius after the celestial
constellation of the same name. In ancient middle-east mythology, Aquarius was
the water-bearer whose appearance coincided with the rainy season, and in ancient
Egypt, the flooding of the Nile. The image is of a man pouring water on the earth
from a large urn. It is a suitable name for an earth science mission to explore how the
water cycle, ocean circulation and climate interact in an era of likely anthropogenic
climate change. The Aquarius Step 1 (science and mission concept) proposal was
submitted to NASA in July 2001 under the ESSP AO. Of the 18 Step 1 proposed
ESSP missions, Aquarius and five others were selected to proceed with a Step 2
(technical implementation and cost) proposal.
In November 2001, the Aquarius team agreed with the Argentina Comisión
Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE) to propose a joint mission for Step 2.
CONAE would furnish the satellite, mission operations and complementary sensors
at no cost to NASA. The mission would become the fourth Satélite de Aplicaciones
Científicas (SAC) developed by Argentina in partnership with the US. The SAC-D
science objectives are local measurements over Argentina and contribute to global
investigations of atmosphere, oceans and effects of human and natural processes on
the environment, as per the Argentine National Space Program strategic plan.
The Aquarius NASA proposal was to provide the salinity sensor, science, launch
vehicle and other implementation costs. The Step 2 proposal was completed in
January 2002, and Aquarius was selected in July 2002 as one of two primary
missions to proceed with further definition studies, along with one alternate. The
project was then directed to do a 1-year risk reduction study, during which time
the NASA-CONAE team re-configured the observatory design to allow CONAE
and third party instruments to be included and resembles the final configuration we
have today (Fig. 3.4). The mission formulation phase (Phase B) began in December
2003, leading to the system requirements reviews in August and September 2004,
and preliminary design reviews in June–August 2005. The NASA mission confirmation review in September 2005 marked the start of the implementation phase (Phase
C/D). The joint NASA-CONAE mission critical design review took place in Buenos
Aires, July 2008, and the present launch date is scheduled for autumn 2010.
A schematic of the mission profile is shown in Fig. 3.5. The design incorporates
several key functional elements. The pushbroom footprint pattern has a ∼390 km
wide swath consisting of 3 elliptical beam footprints of sizes 76 km × 94 km,
84 km × 120 km and 96 km × 156 km. The measurements will be relatively low
spatial resolution, as was stressed in Lagerloef et al. (1995, 2008) and most suited