# Aqua Teleconference October 4, 2007

**On the phone:**

*Project science*: Claire Parkinson (telecon chair), Steve Platnick

*Instruments*: Elena Lobl, Tom Pagano, Denis Elliott, Norman Loeb

*ESMO*: Bill Guit, Angie Kelly

*HQ:* Ramesh Kakar, Cheryl Yuhas

## **Mission Ops (Guit, Kelly):** see distributed ppt file for details. 

[Major activities over last month:]{.underline}

-   9/3: S/C data loss (\>7min)

-   9.7: Dual Thruster Module #2 (DTM-2) anomaly

-   9/12: Norway planned 5 hour outage (no data loss)

-   9/26: Aqua & Terra Backup EOS Operations Center (BEOC) ops test

-   8/21: EPS state of health test #7

-   Ongoing IT Security/GS meetings - daily and weekly.

######## Planned Activities for Next Month

-   10/1-5: Aura STM. Discussed Aura re-location closer to Aqua (\~8 vs.
    15 min); would be achieved by atmospheric drag so would take about
    10 mos. We originally used the 15 min. separation for downlink
    reasons. But now have additional antennae in Norway and Alaska.

-   10/24: MODIS lunar cal #49

-   10/30-11/1: DoD space surveillance working group meeting in Colorado
    Springs.

[Long-Term Plans]{.underline} (no changes)

-   Single S/C Ops, Dump-N-Go, and Lights Dim ops: no changes. Working
    on quantitative assessment of data capture impacts.

## Spacecraft Anomalies

[]{.mark}

-   New: STM-2 Heater Anomaly observed in September. No effect on
    spacecraft or instruments. Similar to Aura DTM-3 heater anomaly in
    Aug 2005. Ongoing investigation with an anomaly team formed. DE: was
    this temporary? BG: No. We have inferred that we are now being
    controlled by the redundant side (prime side failed). If the
    redundant also failed, we could duty cycle heaters to maintain
    temperature.

## Instrument Anomalies

[]{.mark}

-   No new anomalies.

-   AMSR-E motor current/torque update: Current torque threshold at 4.5
    Nm (current \~1.2). QuikSCAT experienced similar behavior with its
    scatterometer antenna bearing assembly -- obtained a copy of the JPL
    anomaly investigation report from Honeywell (see slides 13 & 14).
    BG: my conclusion is that what we have seen on AMSR-E is not
    indicative of impending failure but normal wear and tear.

[Debris Avoidance]{.underline}:

No issues the past month.

[Spacecraft]{.underline}: status = green

[]{.mark}

[Instruments]{.underline}: status = green

[]{.mark}

[Data capture/L0 processing]{.underline}: green. 9/3/: \~7 min loss due
to s/c housekeeping, was due to a miscommunication between EDOS and FOT.

### 

### **Project Science:**

*Parkinson*:

A GSFC effort was begun to consolidate concerns regarding the Senior
Review process. Marc Imhoff (Terra project scientist) took the lead,
with input from other project science teams. Of special note was the
time involved by the teams and burnout by team members, and that the
two-year interval used by the space sciences isn't appropriate for Earth
Science missions which generally become more useful/relevant the longer
they last.

We now have a new Aqua RA (Dee Bradel) assigned to replace Teresa
Mautino. The timing for Dee to begin hasn't yet been decided but Teresa
will assist in her training.

[]{.mark}

[]{.mark}

**Data system/EOSDIS:**

No report.

**CERES (Loeb):**

Instruments nominal. Still pushing to get CERES (FM-5) on NPP (2009/10)
instead of NPOESS C1 (2013) in order to avoid a potential data gap. Alan
Stern was briefed today about the CERES data gap analysis, but he
appears to think that Aqua CERES will last to the NPOESS 2013 time
frame. The decadal survey supported the move to NPP. Both data gap risk
and budget are the issues, but there are no technical show-stoppers. I
believe the next step is joint discussions between NASA and NOAA.

**MODIS:**

No report.

**AMSR-E (Lobl):**

EL: All L2 ported to Linux, with reprocessing beginning in a week. We
hope by the end of the year, that L3 will begin. Currently writing an
article for the Earth Observer.

CP: A year of AMSR-E sea ice data is now on Science on a Sphere (very
popular among the general public) and the Magic Planet.

### **AIRS/AMSU (Pagano, Elliott):**

TP: The STM begins Oct 9 at the Greenbelt Marriott. Can register on the
AIRS web site. On Friday we will have a session on NPP CrIS sounder
activities.

DE: Both instruments nominal. Went to visit BAE Systems (AIRS instrument
builder) two weeks ago to show them instrument telemetry history. They
saw nothing in the telemetry that bothered them. Very minor cooler
issues will be looked at further with the cooler manufacturer, mostly
just to satisfy our curiosity.

### **HQ (Kakar, Yuhas):**

RK: Appears to look good for the 27 EOS re-compete proposals in the
"selectable" range, some of which will be for Aqua science. But a
decision hasn't been made. Lucia is working it.

EL: Any money yet for new contracts? RK: Re-compete and Senior Review
funding to come out of FY08 money, and to my knowledge no FY08 money is
yet available.

SP: Again, contracts take so much longer than grants, so I hope those
awards can be sent to GSFC as soon as FY08 money becomes available.

**Outreach, web site, etc. (Graham):** No report.

**Next Telecon:** Thursday, November 1, 2007

Minutes are being placed on the following site:
<http://aqua.nasa.gov/minutes>. Corrections/additions should be sent to
Steve Platnick.