1. NASA/US Ocean Satellite Missions
Eric J. Lindstrom
28 February 2008

2. OUTLINE NASA operating missions (13, 6 ocean)
NASA missions in implementation and formulation to launch
(9, 4 ocean)
NASA missions beyond 2015 (11, 5 ocean)
Challenges/Assessment - Transitions to Operations 2

3. NASA Ocean Missions SeaWiFS SSM/I SARs (variety) AVHRR Metop (OVSW)
Color (MERIS)

4. Missions in Development (launch by 2015)
OSTM
6/2008
OCO
12/2008
GLORY
2/2009
NPP
9/2009
AQUARIUS
5/2010
LDCM
7/2011
ICESAT-2
2015
GPM
6/2013, 6/2014
SMAP 2012

5. NASA Mid-Term Missions (5/15 total)
Decadal Survey Mission
Mission Description
Orbit
Instruments
HyspIRI
Land surface composition for agriculture and mineral characterization; vegetation types for ecosystem health
LEO, SSO
Hyperspectral spectrometer
ASCENDS
Day/night, all-latitude, all-season CO2 column integrals for climate emissions
Multifrequency laser
SWOT
Ocean, lake, and river water levels for ocean and inland water dynamics
Ka-band wide swath radar
C-band radar
GEO-CAPE
Atmospheric gas columns for air quality forecasts; ocean color for coastal ecosystem health and climate emissions
GEO
High and low spatial resolution hyperspectral imagers
ACE
Aerosol and cloud profiles for climate and water cycle; ocean color for open ocean biogeochemistry
Backscatter lidar
Multiangle polarimeter
Doppler radar 5

6. NASA Far-Term Missions (6/15 total)
Decadal Survey Mission
Mission Description
Orbit
Instruments
LIST
Land surface topography for landslide hazards and water runoff
LEO, SSO
Laser altimeter
PATH
High frequency, all-weather temperature and humidity soundings for weather forecasting and SST*
GEO
MW array spectrometer
GRACE-II
High temporal resolution gravity fields for tracking large-scale water movement
Microwave or laser ranging system
SCLP
Snow accumulation for fresh water availability
Ku and X-band radars
K and Ka-band radiometers
GACM
Ozone and related gases for intercontinental air quality and stratospheric ozone layer prediction
UV spectrometer
IR spectrometer
Microwave limb sounder
3D-Winds
(Demo)
Tropospheric winds for weather forecasting and pollution transport
Doppler lidar
*Cloud-independent, high temporal resolution, lower accuracy SST to complement, not replace, global
operational high-accuracy SST measurement 6

7. CHALLENGES AND ASSESSMENTS
In some sense ocean measurements from space are “overdue” for transition from research to operations.
Summarizing the near future “infrastructure” for ocean remote sensing:
Ocean color - transition not secure due to technical problems on NPP/VIIRS instrument
Sea Surface Temperature - transition secure with NPP, NPOESS and foreign partners
Ocean Vector Winds - transition not secure (Quikscat 9 years on orbit!)
Ocean Surface Topography (sea level) - transition nearly made. National need to “seal the deal” with implementation of Jason-3 in FY10.
WE HAVE MADE MUCH PROGRESS, BUT WE RISK LOSING CRITICAL CAPABILITIES. 7