# Presentation: 022396

## Status of the Aqua Mission

- Claire L. Parkinson
- Aqua Project Scientist
- EOS Investigators’ Working Group Meeting
- San Antonio, Texas
- October 30, 2001

## Key Events since the Last IWG Meeting

- The three units with the dominant problems in February (the transponders, transponder interface electronics, and solid state recorder) were all repaired and reinstalled on the spacecraft by early July 2001.
- Results from the Aqua Validation NRA were announced in May 2001.
- The Aqua Integrated Mission Timeline was baselined on July 18, 2001, and can be found at http://aqua.qssmeds.com/docs.html.
- The baseline System Comprehensive              Performance Test took place July 14-23,                   2001.
- Thermal vacuum testing took place                         August 25 – October 10, 2001.

## The Aqua Instruments Photographed on board the Spacecraft:p.1, the Sounding Suite

- HSB

- A1

- AIRS

- ASMU

- (Photos by D. Stroud)

- A2

- /           \

## The Aqua Instruments Photographed on board the Spacecraft:p.2, the Non-sounders

- Two CERES

- MODIS

- AMSR-E

- (Photos by D. Stroud)

## Aqua on its Way into the Thermal Vacuum Chamber

- (1)

- (2)

- (4)

- (3)

## The Bad News

- Nine units have to be removed from the spacecraft to ground currently floating mode pins.
- Twenty two units have to be removed to replace flawed transformers. (Six are included in the first bullet.)
- Hundreds of bolts were bolted with a torque wrench that did not meet specifications.
- MODIS Command Processor A is experiencing excessive resets.
- Large temperature gradients exist within the AMSR-E hot load.
- Cuts are likely in the EOS algorithm budget.
- The Request for Proposals (RFP) for recompeting the science teams is not out yet.
- Direct broadcast data will not be available while the spacecraft is downloading data to the ground stations.

## The Good News

- Many hardware problems from earlier in 2000 have been fixed.
- Thermal vacuum testing is successfully completed.
- All identified problems are being dealt with.
- We still might be able to launch in 2002 (maybe as early as March 24).
- The science teams are making progress.
- ESDIS is making progress, analyzing the data collected during thermal vac testing and preparing for Mission Test 2 in mid-November, with 24 hours of full data flow from the instruments.
- Several outreach products are completed and available, and others are on the way.

## MODIS Science Team Progress

- Terra MODIS data are being processed, analyzed, validated, and published.

- May 2001 Daytime SST

- Sept. 30 – Oct. 15, 2000 EVI

- Plans for Aqua include a new Surface Evaporation      Index, improved SSTs, and examination of the diurnal cycle from Terra and Aqua data.

## CERES Science Team Progress

- The TRMM and Terra CERES data are being analyzed, with exciting new results.
- The tropical radiative energy budget is much more dynamic and variable than previously thought.
- Changes in the LW and SW fluxes in the 1990s, versus earlier, are consistent with decreasing cloudiness.
- The radiation variations are consistent with                            a strengthening of the Hadley and Walker                    circulations in the 1990s.
- Evidence has been found counter to the Iris                 hypothesis.
- Validation efforts are underway.
- The CLAMS field experiment ran from July                          10 to August 2, 2001.
- ARM Baseline Surface Radiation Network                        data are being collected for validation.

## AIRS/AMSU/HSB Science Team Progress

- The final pre-launch Product Generation Software package (PGS version 2.1.5) has been delivered to the Goddard DAAC.
- AIRS/AMSU/HSB data flow, display, retrieval, and analysis are being tested using a “golden day” concept with December 15, 2000 simulated data.
- The validation support teams selected in response to the Aqua Validation NRA are being integrated into the validation plan.
- The AIRS Team is working                                         with weather prediction                                       agencies in the U.S.,                                            Canada, and Europe to                                        facilitate the incorporation of                          AIRS/AMSU/HSB data into                                   weather forecasts.

## AMSR-E Science Team Progress

- Planning is proceeding for a variety of validation efforts, with revisions, rescheduling, and an updating of the Validation Plan in response to the launch delays.
- The new validation groups, selected in response to the Aqua Validation NRA, are being integrated into the AMSR-E team and program.
- An AMSR-E simulator, the Airborne Earth Science Microwave Imaging Radiometer                         (AESMIR), is under development.

- Navy P-3 used in the Meltpond2000 experiment

- The AESMIR

## Recent Aqua Outreach Products, p.1

- AMSR-E brochure

- AIRS/AMSU/HSB brochure

## Recent Aqua Outreach Products, p.2

- Aqua lithograph

## In-Progress Aqua Outreach, Written Products

- An Aqua brochure
- An Aqua Science Writers’ Guide
- A set of seven Aqua trading cards

- CERES is one of six Earth-observing instruments to be flown on board NASA’s Aqua satellite ...
-  Purpose:....
-  Size: ...
-  Data channels: ...
-  Spatial resolution of the data: ...
-  Primary data products: ...
-  Provider: ...
-  Website: ...

## Other In-Progress Aqua Outreach

- Animations of the Aqua launch and deployment sequence (Reto Stockli)
- Animations of the Aqua orbit and instrument sensing (Jesse Allen)
- Science visualizations related to anticipated Aqua data sets (GSFC Scientific Visualization Studio)
- Videotaping of Aqua scientists for an Aqua educational website and CD-ROM (GSFC Special Projects Initiative Office)
- An Aqua science website, now on-line at http://aqua.nasa.gov