On the front cover: A view of the haze filling California’s Central Valley looking north from NASA’s ER-2 flying over Palmdale during a spring DISCOVER-AQ flight, concurrent with PODEX. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Airborne Science Program 2013 Annual Report Table of Contents In Memoriam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Leadership Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Program Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Structure of the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 FY2013 Major Improvements / Capability Additions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Flight Request System Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Major Mission Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Operation Ice Bridge (OIB) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 SEAC4RS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 Earth Venture-1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 UAVSAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 UAVSAR Central and South America Deployment March 7 - April 4, 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 Support to ESD Satellite Missions, including Decadal Survey Missions . . . . . . . . 25 HyspIRI Preparatory Airborne Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 ICESat-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 PODEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Support for CALIPSO 2006-2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 TERRA / ASTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 UAS-Enabled Earth Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 Earthquake Hazards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 Seagrass / Coral Reefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 MIZOPEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 Support to Instrument Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 iii Upcoming Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 Aircraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 ASP-Supported Aircraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 DC-8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 P-3 Orion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 ER-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 G-III Class Aircraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Global Hawk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 Development and Operations of the GHOC-East at WFF . . . . . . . . . . . .48 Other NASA Earth Science Aircraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 B-200 Class Aircraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 C-23 Sherpa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 HU-25C Falcon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 SIERRA UAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 DragonEye UAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 WB-57 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 The NASA ASP Small Unmanned Systems Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 New Platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 C-130 Hercules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 UH-1 Huey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 Viking UAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 Aircraft Cross Cutting Support and IT Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 ASP Facility Science Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 Airborne Science Program Facility Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61 EOS and R&A Program Facility Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Mission Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 iv Payload Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Strategic Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Requirements Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 5-Year Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68 Education and Outreach and Partnerships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 Student Airborne Research Program 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 FY2013 Mission Tools Suite for Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 DISCOVER-AQ Outreach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 UAVSAR South American Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72 Partnerships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Appendix A: Historical Perspective: Cheryl Yuhas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Appendix B: 5-Year Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Appendix C: Acronyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 Figures Figure 1 . SMD Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Figure 2 . Airborne Science Organization Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Figure 3 . Global Hawk 872 arrives at WFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Figure 4 . ASP science flight hours over the past 16 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Figure 5 . Locations of airborne campaigns in FY2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Figure 6 . Flight lines for FY13 Antarctic mission (Fall 2012) . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Figure 7 . OIB 2013 Arctic flight lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Figure 8 . DC-8, ER-2 and SPEC Learjet flight tracks on 18 September 2013 . . . . . .14 v Figure 9 . Tropical Storm Ingrid, Sept . 13, 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Figure 10 . HS3 flight paths for 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Figure 11 . HS3 team with AV-1 and AV-6 at WFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Figure 12 . CARVE 2013 flight tracks of the C-23 Sherpa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Figure 13 . CARVE exceeded its Program Level Requirements Threshold . . . . . . . .18 Figure 14 . AirMOSS Flight System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Figure 15 . North American Biomes observed by AirMOSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Figure 16 . The 2013 ATTREX team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Figure 17 . Schematic map of the DISCOVER-AQ 2013 Houston campaign area . . . . .22 Figure 18 . UAVSAR flight tracks for the Central and South American deployment . . . .24 Figure 19 . Map of HyspIRI Preparatory Airborne Study sites in California and Nevada . .26 Figure 20 . MABEL instrument in Proteus pod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Figure 21 . MABEL flight track on Proteus, September 25, 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Figure 22 . GLISTIN-A flight lines, May 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Figure 23 . Engineers and the crew at Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility loading the Research Scanning Polarimeter into the superpod for placement under the wing of the ER-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 Figures 24 . Flight lines of Dragon Eye UAS over the Turrialba Volcano, near San Jose, Costa Rica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 Figure 25 . The XSCAV UAS modified for Payload-Directed Flight . . . . . . . . . . .33 Figure 26 . Vision II UAS carrying NovaSci hyperspectral imager . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Figure 27 . Aerial view of Cheeca Rocks reef, the barge serving as the UAV launch pad, and the project’s associated research vessels . . . . . . . . . . 34 Figure 28 . Pre-flight check of CU’s DataHawk electric powered UAV . . . . . . . . . .35 Figure 29 . Flight characteristics of NASA aircraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 Figure 30 . DC-8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 vi Figure 31 . SEAC4RS End Of mission DC-8 Team Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Figure 32 . P-3 Orion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Figure 33 . ER-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 Figure 34 . SEAC4RS end of mission ER-2 Team Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 Figure 35 . C20-A with UAVSAR during South American Campaign . . . . . . . . . .45 Figure 36 . JSC G-III carrying AirMOSS in SAR pod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 Figure 37 . Global Hawk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 Figure 38 . GHOC-East flight operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 Figure 39 . B-200 class Aircraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Figure 40 . C-23 Sherpa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 Figure 41 . View of GEO-TASO instrument and Welch rack from passenger door of NASA Langley HU-25C aircraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 Figure 42 . The SIERRA UAS at Oliktok Point during MIZOPEX . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Figures 43 . NASA Dragon Eye UASs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 Figures 44 . NASA WB-57 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Figure 45 . The C-130 Hercules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 Figure 46 . The UH-1 Huey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 Figure 47 . NASA Airborne Science Data and Telemetry System . . . . . . . . . . .62 Figure 48 . MTS Flight tracking screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 Figure 49 . Data tracker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Figure 50 . Summary of aircraft gaps as identified by NASA Science Center Survey . . .67 Figure 51 . SARP students, mentors, and faculty pose by the DC-8 at the NASA Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility, 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 Figure 52 . Colleges and Universities represented in SARP 2012 . . . . . . . 70 Figure 53 (Left) Middle school students in Punta Arenas, Chile connect with the IceBridge mission in Greenland (right) using the Mission Tools Suite for Education (MTSE) website projected in their classroom . . . . . . . . .71 vii Figure 54 . DISCOVER-AQ Scientists Sally Pusede and Kaitlin Duffey from UC Berkeley chat directly with students while flying on the P-3B . . . . . . 71 Figure 55 . Two fifth grade students from Houston’s Deer Park Independent School District on the NASA P-3B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 Figure 56 . Scholars in the “College Horizons” program, along with Ambassador Namm, visit the NASA C20-A in Guayaquil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72 Figure 57 . Forecast team briefs GH pilots on mission plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 Tables Table 1 . Aircraft, Flight Requests, and Total Hours flown in FY13, NASA ESD hours were 4392 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Table 2 . Science Flight Statistics, Major Missions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Table 3 . UAVSAR Deployments in 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Table 4 . Efforts focused primarily to support ESD Satellite Missions, including Decadal Survey Missions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Table 5 . UAS Enabled Earth Science missions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Table 6 . ASP Support to Instrument Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Table 7 . Airborne Science Program aircraft and their performance capabilities . . . . . . 38 Table 8 . Facility Equipment and Communications capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Table 9 . Satellite Communications systems on ASP aircraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Table 10 . Explanation of gaps indicated in Figure 50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Table 11 . Activities to support ASP requirements information gathering . . . . . . . . 68 viii