Episode Summary

NASA’s Atmospheric Observing System (AOS) is a constellation of 4 smallsats which will help characterize aerosol, cloud, convection, and precipitation processes to give insight into extreme weather events as well as climate change. The spacecraft have been designed to compliment each other with their orbits as well as their instrument suite (which includes radar, lidar, limb sensors, polarimeters, and radiometers). AOS was designed to influence the next decade of scientific research in aerosols and cloud processes and enable us to improve our understanding of our Earth. The project is led by NASA Goddard and supported by international partnerships with Japan, Canada, and France, who are developing spacecraft and instruments alike to support this mission.

This episode explores the complex study that was undertaken to develop a mission architecture for AOS which could maximize the science return. Over 100 different architectures were developed during the study before the architecture was chosen for AOS. Specifically, we discuss the approach to designing and analyzing different combinations of instruments and spacecraft platforms, and what strategies were used to quantify the impact that each architecture could have on the science objectives. We will also cover How the study trades developed over time, and the challenges associated with an analysis of this scope.

Dr. Scott Braun is the Project Scientist for the AOS mission and has been with the program since the study began back in 2018. Dr. Braun is a research meteorologist at NASA Goddard, specializing in hurricanes, and specifically how these form and intensify, including their interaction with the Saharan Air Layer. He has also served as the Principal investigator for NASA’s Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) mission, and the Project Scientist for TROPICS, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), GOES-R, Global Precipitation Measurement mission. Dr. Braun has received numerous awards including Fellow of the American Meteorological Society, the Goddard Earth Science Achievement Award, the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, and several other group achievement awards.

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode Intro

4:36 - Dr. Braun's background

10:56 - Building the AOS architecture study team

13:48 - Approaching the AOS architecture study per the mission objectives

23:31 - Trading performance vs size

26:48 - Quantifying the scientific value

39:36 - Process for narrowing down options

51:32 - Feedback during the study

56:44 - Evaluating new approaches vs continuity with existing missions, challenges associated

1:03:36 - International partnerships

1:05:02 - One thing that could be done differently

1:07:30 - Favorite problem

1:09:06 - Episode Outro

Links

• AOS Project website: https://aos.gsfc.nasa.gov/
• Paper on the AOS architecture study: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=9843507