2006 Annual Report

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

NASA Earth Science Technology Office
Executive Summary

2006 has been another productive year for Earth science technology development. 

NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) completed 41 technology projects 

over the fiscal year, of which nearly 90% advanced at least one Technology Readiness Level (TRL) during the course of funding. A competitive solicitation through 

the Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) program added 28 new 

awards to ESTO’s portfolio of more than 500 active and completed projects.

The success of ESTO’s portfolio continues to be driven by several factors:

• A commitment to competitive, peer-reviewed solicitations 

• A focus on active technology management

• A diverse research community – principal investigators are drawn from more than 

 100 organizations in 32 states

ESTO continues to build upon a strong history of technology infusion. In fiscal year 

2006 (FY06), 16% of active ESTO technology projects achieved actual infusion in 

science measurements, system demonstrations, or societal applications.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank George Komar for his vision 

and leadership since the inception of the ESTO program, and wish him well in his 

new technology role at NASA.

Amy Walton

Deputy Program Director, ESTO

i

On the cover:

Four technology images from top to bottom are 1) an innovative Doppler radar antenna (see page 5), 

2) a test laser similar to the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) instrument aboard the MESSENGER spacecraft (see page 11), 3) a radiation-tolerant, intelligent memory stack (see page 13), and 4) a Fabry-Perot 

ring pattern from a laser test (see page 10). The background science image shows Earth’s elevation and 

bathymetry in shaded relief.
Contents

About ESTO •••••••••••• 1

The Year in Review: 

 Overview ••••••••••• 2

 Instruments ••••••••• 4

 UAVSAR •••••••••••• 6

 Components •••••••• 8

 Lasers ••••••••••••• 10

 Information Systems •• 12

Future Challenges ••••••• 14

Additional Resources ••••• 15

About ESTO

As the lead technology office within 

the Earth Science Division of the NASA 

Science Mission Directorate, the Earth 

Science Technology Office (ESTO) performs strategic technology planning 

and manages the development of a 

range of advanced technologies for future science measurements and operational requirements. ESTO technology 

investments attempt to address the full 

science measurement process: from the 

instruments and platforms needed to 

make observations, to the data systems 

and information products that make 

those observations useful.

ESTO’s approach to technology 

development is also end-to-end:

• Planning technology investments 

through comprehensive analyses of 

science requirements

• Developing technologies through 

competitive solicitations and 

partnership opportunities

• Making technologies available to 

scientists and mission managers for 

infusion

ESTO employs an open, flexible, 

science-driven strategy that relies on 

competitive, peer-reviewed solicitations 

to produce the best cutting-edge technologies. In many cases, investments 

are leveraged through partnerships to 

mitigate financial risk and to create a 

broader audience for technology 

infusion. 

The results speak for themselves: a 

varied portfolio of over 500 emerging 

technologies that can enable and/or 

enhance future science measurements 

and an ever-growing number of infusion successes.

From instruments 

to data access, 

ESTO technologies enable a full 

range of scientific 

measurements

ii 1
Year in Review: Overview

With more than 400 completed 

technology investments and a 

current, active portfolio of over 

100 projects, ESTO has continually built upon NASA’s reputation 

for developing and advancing 

leading-edge technologies. 

How did ESTO do this year? 

Here are few of our successes for fiscal 

year 2006 (FY06), tied to NASA’s performance goals for ESTO:

GOAL: Annually advance 25% of funded 

technology projects one Technology 

Readiness Level (TRL). 

FY06 RESULT: 36% of funded 

technology projects advanced at 

least one TRL.

SPOTLIGHT: ESTC2006

ESTO held its sixth annual technology conference on June 26th-29th 

at the University of Maryland. This 

year’s conference – ESTC2006 (Earth 

Science Technology Conference 

2006) – included over 90 technical 

papers in three parallel sessiontracks. A third session track was 

added this year to showcase technology developments from across the 

NASA Science Mission Directorate, 

including topics such as: astrophysics, planetary, propulsion, and suborbital technologies. More than 300 

GOAL: Enable one new science 

measurement capability or significantly 

improve performance of an existing 

one.

FY06 RESULT: The Multiband Reconfigurable Synthetic Aperture Radar Project has resulted in the fabrication and 

testing of a sixteen-element Synthetic 

Aperture Radar Small Array Demonstrator (SARSAD) system, capable of limited 

frequency tuning and azimuth/elevation steering under computer control. 

Although this technology still has some 

challenges to overcome, additional 

investment may enable a geostationary Earth orbit interferometric SAR that 

could measure crustal deformations 

(i.e. glaciers and volcano monitoring) 

and that might contribute to earthquake prediction capabilities.

GOAL: Mature two to three technologies to the point where they can be 

demonstrated in space or in an operational environment.

FY06 RESULTS: 20 technology projects 

that were funded in FY06 achieved actual infusion. Examples include: 

- The Radiation Tolerant Intelligent 

Memory Stack (RTIMS) has been commercialized and successfully sold. 

- The Spatial-Temporal Data Mining 

System for Tracking and Modeling 

Ocean Object Movement project has 

provided customized code to several NASA programs, NOAA, and the 

Florida Fish and Wildlife Research 

Institute for a wide array of applications.

attendees hailed from NASA, academia, 

industry and federal labs. Full proceedings are available at the ESTO website.

2

- The Reconfigurable Hardware in 

Orbit (RHinO) project was selected by 

the Human and Robotic Technologies 

program in NASA’s Exploration Office 

for implementation funding. RHinO 

has also been employed by the Cross 

Track Infrared Sounder – which will 

fly on NASA’s NPP mission and the 

NPOESS satellites – as well as by two 

U.S. Air force satellites: the 

 XSS-11 and TACSat2.

3

ESTO’s Infusion Success

(Over 400 completed 

projects through FY06) 

Each dot 

represents one of 

the over 500

projects (active 

and completed) in 

ESTO’s portfolio 

as of June, 2006

���� ���� ���� ���� ���� ���� ����

���

���

���

���

���

���

���

��������

��

��������������

����������������

��������������

���������� ���

������ ����

���

����

Technologies Infused

(over 29%)

Technologies 

with a Path 

Identified for 

Infusion 

(over 45%)

Technologies

Awaiting Infusion

Opportunity

(under 26%)
Year in Review: Instruments

The Instrument Incubator Program 

(IIP) provides funding for new instrument and measurement techniques, 

from concept development through 

breadboard and flight demonstrations. 

Instrument development of this scale 

outside of a flight project consistently 

leads to smaller, less resource intensive, and easier to build flight instruments. Furthermore, developing and 

validating these technologies before 

mission development improves their 

acceptance and infusion by mission 

planners, thereby significantly reducing costs and schedule uncertainties.

The IIP held some 35 active projects in 

FY06. 23 of these were added in FY05 

as part of a competitive solicitation 

focused on high-priority science areas, 

including aerosol and trace gas measurements in the lower troposphere, 

ice topographic mapping, and tropospheric winds measurements. The IIP 

graduated seven projects this year, all 

of which advanced at least one technology readiness level. The FY06 graduates are as follows:

• Tropospheric Trace Species Sensing 

Fabry-Perot Interferometer (TTSS-FPI)

• Far IR Spectroscopy of the Troposphere (FIRST)

• Miniature Vector Laser Magnetometer

Instruments

The IIP-funded NEXRAD in Space 

project, which graduated in FY06, has 

completed design, prototype, and 

performance study tasks on several 

critical technologies for this innovative Doppler radar instrument. 

The NEXRAD instrument concept is 

a radar system that consists of a 30 

meter, space-deployable antenna with 

a spiral scanning feed. This design 

4 5

The NEXRAD 

deployment 

scenario 

SPOTLIGHT: NEXRAD in Space 

• Cryospheric Advanced Sensor: A Spaceborne Microwave 

Sensor for Sea Ice Thickness and Snow Cover Characteristics

• NEXRAD (Next Generation Weather Radar) In Space - A 

radar for monitoring hurricanes from geostationary orbit

• Prototype Geostationary Synthetic Thinned Aperture 

Radiometer (GeoSTAR)

• SVIP: Solar Viewing Interferometer Prototype for Observations of Earth Greenhouse Gases

This assembled receiver is a key sub-system of the Tropospheric Wind Lidar Technology Experiment (TWiLiTE) 

instrument, an airborne Doppler lidar. Other technologies under development for the TWiLiTE project include a 

high-spectral-resolution, all-solid-state laser transmitter, 

optical filters, and a conically scanning holographic tranceiver. Ground testing of TWiLiTE may begin in early 2007 

and the project team anticipates a test flight on one of the 

NASA WB-57 high-altitude aircraft in 2008.

A joint experiment was performed recently among 

NASA, the University of Michigan, and the Ohio State 

University, which brought together four ESTO projects: 

two current Advanced Component Technology (ACT) 

efforts, one current IIP project, and one graduated 

IIP project. The goal of the experiment was to investigate and collect data on radio-frequency interference 

(RFI) seen in microwave radiometer measurements. 

The NASA Passive/Active L/S-band (PALS) microwave 

radar/radiometer, using a new ACT-developed flatpanel antenna (see spotlight on page 9), was placed on 

a building roof viewing the sky at the RF-noisy grounds 

of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Three different 

RFI detectors (all IIP and ACT projects) collected PALS 

data and detected RFI.

Initial analysis indicates the major source of RFI is likely an air-traffic control radar from the nearby airport. 

The data are being analyzed to compare the RFI detection and mitigation techniques utilized by the different 

systems. Data are also being used to validate a RFI 

mitigation algorithm being developed for the Aquarius 

radiometer.

The data are also proving to be invaluable for understanding the emerging technologies and how they functioned together. The integrated experiment provided a 

data set not attainable with any one individual project.

could potentially 

monitor a 5300 

km earth disk 

from geostationary Earth orbit, or 

about 36,000 km 

from Earth. The 

novel spiral scanning system eliminates the need to 

rotate or steer the 

antenna and significantly reduces 

the complexity of 

the system.

NEXRAD has been 

specifically designed to capture 

full lifetimes of all 

hurricane eyewall replacement cycles, an essential 

ingredient for significantly improved 

hurricane forecasting. Resolution is 

estimated to be 12 - 14 km horizontal 

and 300 m vertical using real-time 

data compression techniques. 

SPOTLIGHT: Four ESTO-Funded Projects 

Participate in Successful Joint Experiment, 

Data Used in Aquarius Validation 

A setup of the flat-panel 

antenna – on a rooftop 

at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory – during 

the joint radio-frequency 

interference experiment
Year in Review: UAVSAR

The Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) project finds its origins in an 

Instrument Incubator Program investment at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory entitled: “Repeat Pass 

Deformation Measurement Capability for an Airborne Platform.” That IIP investment was singled 

out for targeted funding to develop a SAR system and conduct flight testing on a NASA Gulfstream III aircraft. The SAR design is also capable of being flown on an Ikhana (Predator-B) UAV. 

With flight testing set to begin in early 2007, the UAVSAR project has met significant milestones: 

delivery of the first pod to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for instrument integration, completion of 

all ground system hardware, integration and testing of flight radar components, and completion 

of necessary modifications to the Gulfstream III. 

The UAVSAR will have the capability to 

conduct rapid repeat pass interferometry measurements with separations 

ranging from minutes to years, enabling measurements of surface deformation to mm level accuracy. Current 

space-based assets have a repeat orbit 

cycle of 24 to 44 days, limiting their 

effectiveness in the study of rapidly 

deforming features.

The design of the UAVSAR focuses 

on two key challenges. First, repeat 

pass measurements will need to be 

taken from flight paths that are nearly 

identical. The instrument will utilize 

real-time GPS that interfaces with the 

platform flight management system to 

confine the repeat flight path to within 

a 10 m tube. Second, the radar vector 

from the aircraft to the ground target 

area must be similar from pass to 

pass. This will be accomplished with 

an actively scanned antenna designed 

to support electronic steering of the 

antenna beam with a minimum of 1° 

increments over a range to 

exceed ±15° in the flight direction.

Anticipated Technology Benefits:

• Enable a repeat pass in as little as 

20 minutes

• Greatly reduced mass and volume to 

existing airborne SAR technologies

• Modular design to allow integration 

on multiple airborne platforms U

AVSAR

Anticipated Science Applications:

• Land Cover (classification) 

• Hydrology (soil moisture)

• Agriculture 

• Ice (velocity, thickness, and age)

• Oceanography

• Vegetation Structure

• Hydrology (Topography)

• Archeology

• Pre-programmed, autonomous 

operation without need for a radar 

operator 

• Flexible digital system that can trade 

data rate for performance and accept 

additional frequencies and parameters in the future

Assembly of the first SAR pod, to be flown on the NASA Gulfstream III aircraft, viewed from the aft end of the pod. Note 

the two aft cooling ducts; these are critical to maintain the 

antenna and equipment at an appropriate temperature.

This illustration depicts 

synthetic aperture radar 

patterns of seismic deformations associated with 

a model earthquake on 

the San Francisco section 

of the San Andreas Fault 

(depicted in yellow).

6 7
Year in Review: Components

The Advanced Component Technology 

(ACT) program leads research, development, and testing of component- and 

subsystem-level technologies to 

advance the state-of-the-art of instruments, Earth- and space-based platforms, and information systems. The 

ACT program focuses on projects that 

reduce risk, cost, size, mass, and development time of technologies to enable 

their eventual infusion into missions.

In FY06, the ACT program held 31 active projects, 14 of which were selected 

in FY05 as part of the 2005 NASA 

ROSES (Research Opportunity for Space 

and Earth Science) solicitation. 92 proposals were received for this solicitation, which sought core component and 

subsystem technologies that could enable new Earth science measurements. 

The ACT program also graduated 11 

projects in FY06:

• Electro-Optic Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer

• Ultra-High Efficiency L-Band Transmit/Receive Modules for Large Aperture Scanning SAR Antennas

• Development of a 1K X 1K GaAs 

QWIP Far Infrared Detector Array

• Multiband Reconfigurable Synthetic 

Aperture Radar (SAR)

• Quantum Gravity Gradiometer for 

Sub-Surface Mapping C

omponents

• Development of a Large Format Visible-NIR Blind Gallium 

Nitride UV Imager for Atmospheric Earth Science Applications

• Transmit/Receive Membranes for Large Aperture SAR 

Scanning Antennas

• Lightweight, Deployable, Dual-frequency / Polarization Microstrip Antenna array for Remote Sensing of Precipitation

• Low-power radio-frequency analog-to-digital converter (RFADC) for Digital Microwave Radiometry with application to 

Soil Moisture Remote Sensing

• Unified Onboard Processing and Spectroscopy (UniOPS)

• Compact, Lightweight Dual-Frequency Microstrip Antenna 

Feed for Soil Moisture and Sea Surface Salinity Missions

All of the FY06 graduates from the ACT program advanced 

at least one technology readiness level (TRL) and 8 of the 11 

graduates advanced at least two TRLs.

A Quantum Well Infrared Photodetector (QWIP) array, 

developed with funding by the ACT program, can now 

see invisible infrared light in a range of “colors,” or 

wavelengths. The detector is the world’s largest infrared detector technology that can sense infrared over 

a broad range (8 to 12 micrometers) – an important 

advance that has greatly increased the possible uses of 

the technology.

Potential applications include: tropospheric and stratospheric temperatures and atmospheric trace chemicals; 

tree canopy energy balance measurements; cloud layer 

emissivities, droplet size, composition and height; volcanic SO2 and aerosol emissions; dust particle tracking; 

CO2 absorption; coastal erosion; ocean and river thermal gradients and pollution; equipment and instrument 

analysis; ground based astronomy; and temperature 

sounding.

A false color image of a NASA engineer in the far infrared taken with 

the one megapixel QWIP camera. 

Warmer temperatures are orange, 

cooler temperatures are dark red. 

Notice the thermal handprint on her 

lab coat as she removes her hand 

from her pocket.

8 9

SPOTLIGHT: Million Pixel Infrared Detector Has Many Potential Applications

is a critical component for the development of a novel UV 

holographic optical element telescope. 

The project team expects to infuse the ShADOE technology into an IIP project, called The Tropospheric Wind Lidar 

Technology Experiment (TWiLiTE), aimed at developing an 

airborne and/or space borne Doppler Lidar instrument to 

measure tropospheric winds (see inset on page 4).

MSPA, a compact, lightweight, dual-frequency antenna 

feed technology, will be flown on an aircraft in support of 

CLASIC in June 2007. Based on technology originally developed for a large, lightweight, L-band, space-deployable 

antenna, the MSPA will be used in CLASIC to help enable 

airborne remote sensing of soil moisture during the threemonth study in Oklahoma. 

It is hoped that CLASIC will provide new insights about the 

relationship between land surface processes and observed 

cloud cover, and vice versa. CLASIC is jointly supported 

by the US Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation 

Measurement Program and NASA.

SPOTLIGHT: Microstrip Stacked-Patch Array (MSPA) Antenna Goes Airborne 

to Support DOE Cloud Land Surface Interaction Campaign (CLASIC)

The prototype design of the 16-element MSPA antenna to be installed 

on a Twin Otter aircraft in support 

of CLASIC.

This sample optic, one 

of several developed 

as part of the Shared 

Aperture Diffractive 

Optical Element (ShADOE) project, contains 

5 holographic optical 

elements to collect and 

focus atmospheric laser 

backscatter. This optic 
 Exploration: Lander 

 Guidance/Control, Atmo- 

 spheric Winds, Biochemical 

 Identification, Optical 

Communication, and Automated Rendezvous & Docking

 Aeronautics: Turbulence 

 Detection, Wind Shear 

 Detection, and Wake 

 Vortices

The LRRP currently funds 18 projects at 

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and 

NASA Langley Research Center. Partners and collaborators include: American University, Boston College, the Jet 

Propulsion Laboratory, Johns Hopkins 

University Applied Physics Laboratory, Montana State University, Sandia 

National Laboratory, the University of 

Maryland, and numerous industrial 

partners. The investments also cover 

a broad range of laser/lidar challenge 

areas, including:

• High-performance 1- and 2- Micron 

Lasers

• High-reliability Pump Laser Diode 

Arrays

• Space Radiation Tolerance

• Frequency Control and Wavelength 

Conversion

• Electrical Efficiency

• Heat Removal and Thermal 

Management

• Contamination Tolerance

• Photoreceiver and Detector 

Development

Year in Review: Lasers

The Laser Risk Reduction Program 

(LRRP) was established in 2001 by 

the NASA administrator under the 

recommendation of the Earth Science 

Independent Laser Review Panel. LRRP 

works to formalize design, testing, and 

development procedures for durable 

laser/lidar systems and architectures, 

particularly in the critical 1- and 2- micron wavelengths. In doing so, the LRRP 

aims to: 

• demonstrate laser technologies that 

can be reliably and confidently 

infused; 

• prepare technologies well in advance 

of missions; 

• maintain NASA’s in-house laser expertise and capabilities

• investigate science-technology tradeoffs; and

• test engineering flight models in final 

configurations.

Laser/lidar remote sensing techniques 

can satisfy a variety of measurement 

and operational requirements:

 Earth Science: Clouds/

 Aerosols, Tropospheric 

 Winds, Ozone, Carbon 

 Dioxide, Biomass, Water

Vapor, Land, Ice, and Ocean, Surface 

Mapping, and Laser Altimetry

 Space Science: Surface 

 Materials, Physical State, 

 Surface Topography, 

 Molecular Species, and 

Atmospheric Composition / Dynamics

A 20 milli-Joule (mJ) laser developed with LRRP funding 

was successfully used to communicate with the Mercury 

Laser Altimeter (MLA) instrument aboard the MESSENGER 

spacecraft during an Earth fly-by in May 2005. The laser, a 

diode pumped High Output Maximum Efficiency Resonator 

(HOMER), was installed at the NASA’s Goddard Geophysical 

and Astronomical Observatory in Maryland and exchanged 

laser pulses with the MLA, approximately 15 million miles 

away.

The successful tests set a new distance record for backand-forth exchange of laser signals (the Galileo probe 

received a one-way laser transmission from Earth at a 

distance of about 4 million miles in 1992). 

While this milestone is noteworthy, the real objective of 

these tests was to verify the MLA’s ability to detect and 

respond to a returned laser signal. Once MESSENGER is in 

orbit around Mercury, the MLA will measure the round trip 

time of its transmitted laser pulses that are reflected off 

Lasers

10 11

Fabry-Perot ring pattern 

from a sequence of 22 laser shots by a 15 mJ, 40 

to 100 Hz, Diode pumped 

Nd:Cr:YAG laser during a 

vacuum life test

Goddard technologists used 

this 48-inch telescope tracking facility at the Goddard 

Geophysical and Astronomical 

Observatory to transmit the 

20 mJ laser return signal to 

the MESSENGER spacecraft

An artist’s depiction of 

MESSENGER’s Earth flyby 

SPOTLIGHT: MESSENGER’s Earth Flyby Provides Opportunity for Ground 

Return Tests, Sets Record for Laser Communication

An MLA-type laser, used for 

testing and evaluation

the surface of the planet. These measurements, taken together with data obtained from other 

instruments on MESSENGER, will provide high-precision mapping of Mercury’s topography and 

libration, the slight wobble in a planet’s motion that can give insights about its core.
Year in Review: Information Systems

Advanced information systems are used 

to process, archive, access, visualize, 

and communicate science data. Advanced computing and communications 

concepts that permit the transmission 

and management of terabytes of data 

are essential to NASA’s vision of a 

unified observational network. ESTO’s 

Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) program employs an end-toend approach to evolve these critical 

technologies – from the space segment, 

where the information pipeline begins, 

to the end user, where knowledge is 

advanced.

In FY06, the AIST program added 28 

new projects through a competitive 

solicitation under the 2005 NASA Research Opportunities in Space and Earth 

Sciences (ROSES) announcement. The 

AIST solicitation was targeted at funding component technologies to enable 

sensor webs that can achieve future 

Earth science objectives. The awards 

are as follows:

• A Smart Sensor Web for Ocean Observa-

 tions

• Implementation Issues and Validation of 

SIGMA (Seamless IP-diversity based Generalized Mobility Architecture) in Space 

Network Environment

• Virtual Sensor Web Infrastructure for Collaborative Science (VSICS)

• Increasing the Technology Readiness of 

SensorML for Sensor Webs

• A Framework and Prototypes for the SelfAdaptive Earth Predictive Systems (SEPS)

• Telesupervised Adaptive Ocean Sensors

• QuakeSim: Enabling Model Interactions in 

Information Systems

Solid Earth Science Sensor Webs

• Satellite Sensornet Gateway (SSG)

• Sensor-Analysis-Model Interoperability Technology Suite

• Sensor Management for Applied Research Technologies (SMART)

• SEAMONSTER: A Smart Sensor Web in Southeast Alaska

• An Expandable Reconfigurable Instrument Node for a Web Sensor Strand

• Land Information Sensor Web

• Reconfigurable Sensor Networks for In-Situ Sampling

• Autonomous, Intelligent Controller for Distributed Sensor Webs

• Sensor Web Dynamic Replanning

• An Objectively Optimized Sensor Web

• Sensor-Web Operations Explorer (SOX)

• Autonomous Disturbance Detection and Monitoring System for 

UAVSAR

• An Inter-operable Sensor Architecture to Facilitate Sensor Webs 

in Pursuit of GEOSS (Global Earth Observing System of

 Systems)

• Soil Moisture Smart Sensor Web Using Data Assimilation and 

Optimal Control

• Harnessing the Sensor Web through Model-based Observation

• Efficient Sensor Web Communication Based on Jointly Optimized 

Distributed Wavelet Transform and Routing

• Sensor Web Modeling and Data Assimilation System Architectures

• Optimized Autonomous Space - In-situ Sensorweb

• The Multi-agent Architecture for Coordinated, Responsive Observations

• An Adaptive, Negotiating Multi-Agent System for Sensor Webs

• Intelligent Agents for an Autonomous Mission Operations Web

12 13

Future space missions will require 

increased resolution, improved data 

quality, and additional capacity for 

raw and processed data. This radiation-tolerant stacked memory array, 

suitable for both geostationary and 

low Earth orbit missions, can efficiently handle the large data sets 

of tomorrow, increase the accessibility and utility of data, and reduce 

the risk, cost, size and development 

time of space-based systems. 

The RTIMS module is a major step 

forward in the state of the art for 

space based memory arrays. Its features provide advanced functionality 

and allow standardized hardware to 

be used for radically different missions.

RTIMS features: 

• Low mass (60 grams) and low volume (42.7 mm x 42.7 mm x 13.0 

mm) package 

• Large memory array (2 Gigabits 

of error-corrected or 1 Gigabit of 

triple redundant digital memory)

• Radiation, thermal, vibration, and 

lifespan tested

• Reprogrammable Xilinx based 

 controller

First active layer 

of components

Quad Flat 

Package (QFP)

Layers fully 

assembled

Pure epoxy resin 

molding

Nickel and gold 

plating

Final tantalum 

shielding

The AIST program held some 56 active 

investments, several of which graduated over the course of FY06, including:

• Reconfigurable Hardware in Orbit (RHinO)

• TCP/IP Router Board (TRB) with Ethernet 

Interfaces

• Radiation Tolerant Intelligent Memory 

Stack (RTIMS)

• 10/100 mb/sec Flight Ready Ethernet 

Hardware

• Reconfigurable Protocol Chip for Satellite 

Networks 

• Realtime-Reconfigurable DistributedComputing for Adaptive Science Ops in 

Satellite Formations using Heterogeneous 

CPUs & Heterogeneous Connectivity 

• Coupling High Resolution Earth System 

Models Using Advanced Computational 

Technologies

• Implementing a Supercomputer-Based 

Grid Compute Engine for End-to-end Operation of a High-Resolution, High DataVolume Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Model

• Complexity Computational Environments: 

Data Assimilation SERVO (Solid Earth 

Research Virtual Observatory) Grid

• Integration of OGC and Grid Technologies for Earth Science Modeling and Applications

• Hybrid Ground Phased Array for Low 

Earth Orbiting Satellite Communications 

• Mining Massive Earth Science Data Sets 

for Climate and Weather Forecast Models

• Spatiotemporal Data Mining System for 

Tracking and Modeling Ocean Objects

• Selection Technique for Thinning Satellite 

Data for Numerical Weather Prediction

• Rapid Characterization of Causal Interactions among Climate/Weather System 

Variables

Nearly 90% of FY06 AIST program 

graduates advanced at least one TRL 

over the course of their funding.

A demo board that incorporates two RTIMS modules 

SPOTLIGHT: Radiation Tolerant Intelligent 

 Memory Stack (RTIMS)

An example of a simulation by the Grid-BGC project, a continental-scale carbon cycle modeling system. The left image 

shows one input to the model: total precipitation (18-year 

annual Mean). The right image, showing potential gross primary productivity for evergreen needleleaf forest (18-year 

annual Mean), is an output from the model, which produces 

estimates of state and flux variables for carbon, nitrogen, 

and water cycles.
Future Challenges Additional Resources

Active Remote Sensing Technologies to enable measurements of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and lithosphere.

• Atmospheric chemistry using lidar vertical profiles

• Ice cap, glacier, sea ice, and snow characterization using radar and lidar

• Troposperic vector winds using lidar

While ESTO is uniquely situated to pursue a wide range of technology requirements, we have identified 

five crosscutting technology areas that will serve a multitude of science disciplines:

14 15

A wealth of additional materials is available online at the 

ESTO homepage – http://esto.nasa.gov – including:

Fully searchable database of active 

ESTO investments

Abstracts, 

papers and presentations from 

the 2006 Earth 

Science Technology Conference 

(ESTC2006) as 

well as from 

previous ESTO 

conferences.

Information 

about ESTO 

solicitations and 

awards

The Earth 

Science 

Technology 

Integrated 

Planning 

System (ESTIPS), 

an evolving 

database of 

science requirements linked to 

technology 

needs

Large Deployable Apertures to enable future weather, climate, and natural

hazards measurements.

• Temperature, water vapor, and precipitation from GEO

• Soil moisture and sea surface salinity using L-band

• Surface deformation and vegetation using radar

Intelligent Distributed Systems using advanced communication, on-board 

radiation-tolerant reprogrammable processors, autonomous operations and 

network control, data compression, high density storage.

• Long-term weather prediction linking observations to numerical models

• Interconnected sensor webs that share information to enhance observations

Information Knowledge Capture through novel visualizations, memory and 

storage advances, and seamlessly linked models. 

• Intelligent data fusion to merge multi-mission data

• Discovery tools to extract knowledge from large and complex data sets

• Real time science processing, archiving, and distribution of user products to 

drive decision-support systems
Earth Science Technology Office

Goddard Space Flight Center

Greenbelt, MD 20771

http://esto.nasa.gov