Definitive Contract to University of Maryland, College Park by NASA Langley Research Center for Research And Development In The Physical, Engineering, And Life Sciences

NASA Langley Research Center

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR AND SCIENCE MANAGEMENT TEAM SUPPORT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF THE POLARIZED SUBMILLIMETER ICE-CLOUD RADIOMETER INSTRUMENT MISSION FOR THE NASA LIFE CYCLE FORMULATION AND IMPLEMENTATION PHASES A THOUGH F.

NASA Langley Research Center

"IGF::OT::IGF" OTHER FUNCTIONS - TROPOSPHERIC EMISSIONS: MONITORING OF POLLUTION (TEMPO) - THE TEMPO INVESTIGATION WAS SELECTED UNDER THE NASA SECOND STAND ALONE MISSIONS OF OPPORTUNITY NOTICE (SALMON-2) ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY (AO) PROGRAM ELEMENT APPENDIX J, NNH12ZDA006O-EVI1 FOR THE EARTH VENTURE INSTRUMENT-1 (EVI-1) ELEMENT OF THE EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE PATHFINDER (ESSP) PROGRAM OFFICE'S EARTH VENTURE LINE. TEMPO MEASURES POLLUTION OF NORTH AMERICA, FROM MEXICO CITY TO THE CANADIAN TAR/OIL SANDS, AND FROM THE ATLANTIC TO THE PACIFIC, HOURLY AND AT HIGH SPATIAL RESOLUTION. TEMPO SPECTROSCOPIC MEASUREMENTS IN THE ULTRAVIOLET AND VISIBLE AND PROVIDES A TROPOSPHERIC MEASUREMENT SUITE THAT INCLUDES THE KEY ELEMENTS OF TROPOSPHERIC AIR POLLUTION CHEMISTRY. MEASUREMENTS ARE FROM GEOSTATIONARY ORBIT, TO CAPTURE THE INHERENT HIGH VARIABILITY IN THE DIURNAL CYCLE OF EMISSIONS AND CHEMISTRY. A SMALL PRODUCT SPATIAL FOOTPRINT RESOLVES POLLUTION SOURCES AT SUB-URBAN SCALE. TOGETHER, THIS TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL RESOLUTION IMPROVES EMISSION INVENTORIES, MONITORS POPULATION EXPOSURE, AND ENABLES EFFECTIVE EMISSION-CONTROL STRATEGIES. TEMPO TAKES ADVANTAGE OF A GEOSTATIONARY (GEO) HOST SPACECRAFT TO PROVIDE A MODEST COST MISSION THAT MEASURES THE SPECTRA REQUIRED TO RETRIEVE O3, NO2, SO2, H2CO, C2H2O2, H2O, AEROSOLS, CLOUD PARAMETERS, AND UVB RADIATION. TEMPO THUS MEASURES THE MAJOR ELEMENTS, DIRECTLY OR BY PROXY, IN THE TROPOSPHERIC O3 CHEMISTRY CYCLE. MULTI-SPECTRAL OBSERVATIONS PROVIDE SENSITIVITY TO O3 IN THE LOWERMOST TROPOSPHERE, REDUCING UNCERTAINTY IN AIR QUALITY PREDICTIONS BY 50%. TEMPO QUANTIFIES AND TRACKS THE EVOLUTION OF AEROSOL LOADING. IT PROVIDES NEAR-REAL-TIME AIR QUALITY PRODUCTS THAT WILL BE MADE WIDELY, PUBLICLY AVAILABLE. TEMPO MAKES THE FIRST TROPOSPHERIC TRACE GAS MEASUREMENTS FROM GEO, BY BUILDING ON THE HERITAGE OF FIVE SPECTROMETERS FLOWN IN LOW-EARTH-ORBIT (LEO). THESE LEO INSTRUMENTS MEASURE THE NEEDED SPECTRA, ALTHOUGH AT COARSE SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL RESOLUTIONS, TO THE PRECISIONS REQUIRED FOR TEMPO AND USE RETRIEVAL ALGORITHMS DEVELOPED FOR THEM BY TEMPO SCIENCE TEAM MEMBERS AND CURRENTLY RUNNING IN OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENTS. THIS MAKES TEMPO AN INNOVATIVE USE OF A WELL PROVEN TECHNIQUE, ABLE TO PRODUCE A REVOLUTIONARY DATASET. TEMPO PROVIDES MUCH OF THE ATMOSPHERIC MEASUREMENT CAPABILITY RECOMMENDED FOR GEO-CAPE IN THE 2007 NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL DECADAL SURVEY, EARTH SCIENCE AND APPLICATIONS FROM SPACE: NATIONAL IMPERATIVES FOR THE NEXT DECADE AND BEYOND. GEO-CAPE IS NOT PLANNED FOR IMPLEMENTATION THIS DECADE, HOWEVER, EUROPE (SENTINEL 4) AND ASIA (GEMS) WILL FORM PARTS OF A GLOBAL GEO CONSTELLATION FOR POLLUTION MONITORING, WITH A MAJOR FOCUS ON INTERCONTINENTAL POLLUTION TRANSPORT. TEMPO WILL LAUNCH AT A PRIME TIME TO BE A COMPONENT OF THIS CONSTELLATION.

NASA Langley Research Center

THE DIFFRACTIVE FILTER ARRAY (DFA) IS A CRITICAL COMPONENT FOR THE HYPERPIX INSTRUMENT CONCEPT, WHICH ALLOWS IMAGING A SCIENTIFIC SCENE AT MULTIPLE SPECTRAL BANDS SIMULTANEOUSLY USING A SINGLE SNAPSHOT.