Unique Offerings of the ISS as an Earth Observing Platform

International Astronautical Congress, Beijing, China. Copyright ©2013 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved. IAC-13-D9.2. 8 Page 1 of 6 IAC-13-D9.2. 8 Unique Offerings of the ISS as an Earth Observing Platform Victor M. Cooley NASA Johnson Space Center, United States, vic.cooley-1@nasa.gov The International Space Station offers unique capabilities for earth remote sensing. An established Earth orbiting platform with abundant power, data and commanding infrastructure, the ISS has been in operation for twelve years as a crew occupied science laboratory and offers low cost and expedited concept-to-operation paths for new sensing technologies. Plug in modularity on external platforms equipped with structural, power and data interfaces standardizes and streamlines integration and minimizes risk and start up difficulties. Data dissemination is also standardized. Emerging sensor technologies and instruments tailored for sensing of regional dynamics may not be worthy of dedicated platforms and launch vehicles, but may well be worthy of ISS deployment, hitching a ride on one of a variety of government or commercial visiting vehicles. As global acceptance of the urgent need for understanding Climate Change continues to grow, the value of ISS, orbiting in Low Earth Orbit, in complementing airborne, sun synchronous polar, geosynchronous and other platform remote sensing will also grow. I. INTRODUCTION The International Space Station offers a Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) space laboratory, environment or vantage point for virtually any field of science or space exploration. Most investigations focus on weightlessness or exploring and developing human presence, operations, and technology for the long duration space missions of the future, while some other investigations leverage the vantage point of LEO as a platform for viewing the universe, solar system, or sun, or looking back at earth. The physics and biological investigations which depend on weightlessness typically exhibit macro phenomena which actually are reflections of processes in weightlessness at the molecular or cellular level. For example, BCAT, FLEX, Resist Wall and Triple Lux … (XXX references will be provided in final copy). The ISS is an excellent laboratory and environment for studying the effects of, and developing countermeasures against the undesirable effects of long duration weightlessness on the human body. The Nutrition (XXX reference) experiment which recently completed documented the effects of various types of exercise protocols as countermeasures to the problem of elevated rates of bone loss for long duration crew members. Not only do physiological changes occur, but neuronal, perceptual and even cognitive changes to long duration crew members (XXX reference). ISS use for the development of hardware and operations technology which will be needed for further space exploration typically involves developmental or prototype hardware and or operations for those anticipated needs. For example, Amine Swingbed, Robonaut, and Robotic Refueling Mission, XXX References… . And the ISS also provides an orbital vantage point for sensors looking away from earth or toward earth. In efforts to further understand the origins and evolution of the universe and our solar system, outward looking sensors and instruments collect high energy spectrum X-Ray and gamma ray both in the local (CALET reference) and distant universe (CREAM, AMS, MAXI reference). Sun viewing instruments (SOLAR reference) document spectral variations of irradiance as the sun cycles though its 11 year solar cycle. All of these investigations and uses of ISS, over broad spectra of science fields and preparations for further space exploration, have been underway since the first crew launch in November, 2000. Although the numbers of investigations and crew hours spent on science were low in the early years, with the ISS assembly complete as of 2010, ISS science and utilization has basically tripled. In the field of Earth Science, the ISS offers a unique vantage point due to its orbit characteristics. The ISS orbits earth at an inclination relative to the equatorial plane, of 51.6 degrees. Its altitude fluctuates through the range of 375 to 435 km as it cycles through slowly descending periods, due to orbital drag, and is then reboosted, within seconds, with engines and propellant from the near monthly arriving Progress, ATV, and HTV vehicles provided by Russian, European, and Japanese space agencies, respectively. The station attitude will also vary over the course of the mission, particularly the pitch bias with which the ISS flies will vary depending on the combinations of visiting vehicles and their berthing sites. Although varying altitude and attitude are not