2009 annual report

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Earth Science Technology Office
On the Cover:

Top row from left to right: UAVSAR pod (see page 8) with cover removed for service - image credit: Dave Bullock, Wired.com; 

NASA P-3 aircraft with PARIS radar (see page 8) taxiing on a snowy runway in Greenland - image credit: NASA Operation Ice 

Bridge; optics hardware for the TIMS Instrument (see page 4) - image credit: John Kumer.

Middle row from left to right: An assembled, adaptively-controlled 2.4 meter antenna reflector (see page 13) - image credit: 

Houfei Fang; a brassboard of a superconductor-insulator-superconductor mixer for microwave limb sounding (see page 12) - 

image credit, Karen Lee; a topographic image taken by a new Ka-band radar (see page 5) - image credit: Delwyn Moller.

Bottom row from left to right: students with a meteorological station in Alaska - image credit: Matt Heavner; a digital radio 

frequency interference detector - image credit: Christopher Ruf; a volcano “spider” on Mount St. Helens (see page 11) - image 

credit: USGS.
Executive Summary

As reported in the pages that follow, 2009 has been another active year for NASA Earth science technology development. The NASA Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) is entering its 12th year 

supporting and enabling new science measurements, operational requirements, and practical 

applications that benefit society at large. 

Activities over the past two years have centered on guidance provided by the National Research Council 

(NRC) of the National Academies in the first Decadal Survey for Earth science: “Earth Science and 

Applications from Space: National Imperatives for the Next Decade and Beyond.” At the release of this 

Decadal Survey in 2007, we were pleased to note that existing ESTO investments already applied 

directly to the 18 recommended mission concepts. Moving forward, ESTO has carefully focused new 

investments toward these measurement goals. This annual report contains a special section – 

“Toward the Decadal Survey” on page 8 – that illustrates how these new investments support the 

Decadal Survey. 

In Fiscal Year 2009 (FY09), ESTO awarded funding to 37 new projects – 17 through an Advanced Component Technologies program solicitation and 20 through an Advanced Information Systems 

Technology Program solicitation – which brings the total ESTO portfolio to more than 600 active and 

completed technology investments. The next solicitation, for the Instrument Incubator Program, is 

planned for release in FY10. 

ESTO also continues to build upon a strong history of technology development and infusion. In FY09 

over 50% of active ESTO technology projects advanced at least one Technology Readiness Level (TRL). 

Many projects have also achieved actual infusion into science measurements, system demonstrations, 

or other applications. Of the 505 projects in the ESTO portfolio that are complete, 35% have already 

been infused and an additional 44% have a path identified for future infusion. 

We are proud of the contributions that our principal investigators make for the future of Earth science 

and we look forward to another year of innovations in FY10.

George J. Komar Amy Walton

i
ii

Contents

About ESTO •••••••••••••• 1

2009 Metrics •••••••••••••• 2 - 5

Special Section:

Toward the Decadal Survey ••••• 6 - 7

2009 in Review:

 - Instruments •••••••••••••• 8 - 9

 - Information Systems•••••••••••••• 10 - 11

 - Components •••••••••••••• 12 - 13

Future Challenges •••••••••••••• 14

Additional Resources •••••••••••••• 15
1

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

• Selecting and funding technologies 

through competitive solicitations and 

partnership opportunities

• Actively managing funded technology 

development projects

• Enabling infusion of technologies 

into science measurements and 

missions. 

ESTO employs an open, flexible, 

science-driven strategy that relies on 

competitive, peer-reviewed solicitations 

to produce the best cutting-edge technologies. In some 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 

broad portfolio of over 600 emerging 

technologies that can enable and/or 

enhance future science measurements 

as well as an ever-growing number of 

infusion successes.

From instruments 

to data access, 

ESTO technologies enable a full 

range of scientific 

measurements
2

2009 Metrics

With more than 500 completed technology investments and a current, 

active portfolio of nearly 100 projects, ESTO is driving innovation, 

enabling future Earth science measurements, and strengthening 

NASA’s reputation for developing and advancing leading-edge 

technologies.

How did ESTO do this year? Here are a few of our successes for fiscal 

year 2009 (FY09), tied to NASA’s performance goals for ESTO:

GOAL: 

Annually advance 25% of currently-funded technology projects at least one 

Technology Readiness Level (TRL). 

FY09 RESULT: 

53% of ESTO technology projects which were funded during FY09 advanced at 

least one TRL over the course of the year. 15% of these projects advanced 2 TRLs 

and one project advanced 3 TRLs. See the graph below for yearly comparisons of 

this metric. 

Each dot 

represents one of 

the 601 projects 

(active and 

completed) in the 

ESTO portfolio. 

Percentage of 

Active Projects 

that Advanced 

at Least 1 TRL 

during each 

Fiscal Year (FY)

0%

25% Goal

Fiscal Year

FY99 FY00 FY01 FY02 FY03 FY04 FY05 FY06 FY07

26%

41%

35%

52%

39%

28%

39%

36%

41%

46%

FY08

53%

FY09
3

 

ESTO’s Infusion 

Success - drawn from 

the 505 completed 

projects through FY09

GOAL: 

Mature two to three technologies to the point where they can be demonstrated in 

space or in a relevant operational environment.

FY09 RESULTS:

Numerous ESTO projects achieved infusion into space missions or airborne

science campaigns in FY09. Several notable examples follow:

 

- Between March and May 2009, the Pathfinder Advanced Radar Ice Sounder 

(PARIS) participated in data collection flights onboard the NASA P-3 Aircraft 

over Greenland for the IceSAT Gap Filler campaign. PARIS is a radar instrument 

designed to sound the basal (bottom) topography and internal layering of ice 

sheets from high altitude.

- The Far Infrared Spectroscopy of the Troposphere (FIRST) instrument is 

currently deployed and collecting science data in a field campaign in the high 

Atacama Desert in Chile. As part of a science campaign with the Department 

of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program, investigators 

from the U. S., Germany, and Italy are conducting a 3-month “Radiative Heating 

in the Underexplored Bands Campaign” from a mountaintop site at 17,500 feet. 

The goal of the campaign is to conduct experiments in the far-infrared portion 

of the Earth’s infrared emission spectrum.

- The Sensor Web Operations Explorer (SOX) task has developed an endto-end Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) system that 

enables Earth atmospheric scientists to comprehensively analyze 

science return from a wide range of mission and instrument 

concepts. During FY09, this capability was infused into the GEOCAPE mission study to enable rapid evaluation of observation 

scenarios, measurement quality ranges, and retrieval analysis 

performance. The GEO-CAPE study team obtained quantitative 

science impacts on combining UV/VIS and IR observations, on 

the trade-offs of spectral resolution, and on integrating low Earth 

orbit observations.
4

2009 Metrics Continued

Top: SIMPL being loaded onto the NASA Learjet 25 for 

the 2008 test flights. At left: integration above the 

aircraft viewport. (Image Credit: David Harding)

Above are optics hardware 

for the TIMS Instrument 

(Image Credit: John Kumer)

GOAL:

Enable a new science measurement capability or significantly improve the 

performance of an existing technique.

FY09 RESULT: Several ESTO projects satisfied this goal for FY09. Here are three notable examples:

- Field tests of the Tropospheric Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (TIMS) 

instrument have demonstrated it can provide improved column CO 

measurements. TIMS can acquire radiance, at high spectral resolution, in the regions of the CO bands near 4.7 microns as well as near 

2.3 microns, a new wavelength (shortwave infrared) measurement 

for tropospheric CO. These spectra contain information that could 

also be used to measure column CH4 and H2O partial columns. TIMS 

uses low noise 2D arrays fed by a grating spectrometer. There are no 

moving parts. The compact design was intended for LEO but many 

technologies could be useful for GEO missions such as GEO-CAPE.

(Principal Investigator: John Kumer, Lockheed Martin)

- The Slope Imaging Multi-polarization Photon-counting Lidar (SIMPL) 

instrument is a new prototype airborne altimeter developed to obtain 

precise elevation and depolarization data of ice sheets, sea ice, and 

land surfaces at 532 nm and 1064 nm. The 4-channel, photoncounting, polarimetric altimeter was built using many commercially 

available components and flew on several airborne test flights in 

October 2008 and February 2009. SIMPL’s depolarization techniques 

allow for the identification of surface characteristics – snow, ice, 

water, land, etc – in addition to precise elevation measurements. 

(Principal Investigator: David Harding, NASA Goddard Space Flight 

Center)
5

An image from the GLISTIN 

instrument taken during an 

engineering test flight over 

California. (Image Credit: 

Delwyn Moller)

ESTO’s 392 current principal investigators and coinvestigators represent a diverse set of institutions 

– see graph at right. Over the past decade, ESTO PIs 

and Co-Is have performed technology development 

and research in nearly every state and the District of 

Columbia. 

About ESTO Investigators

NASA Centers,

28%

Jet Propulsion 

Laboratory, 30%

Academia, 25%

Industry

14%

Federal Labs,

3%

Student Participation

In 2009 alone, ESTO-funded projects supported over 165 

students from 50 academic institutions. About half are pursuing

doctorates and others are working toward masters or undergraduate degrees.

- With two receiving antennas that are separated by about 10 inches, 

a novel, proof-of-concept Ka-band radar called the Glacier and 

Land Ice Surface Topography Interferometer (GLISTIN) uses millimeter-wave synthetic aperture radar interferometry technique to 

simultaneously generate both imagery and high-precision topographic maps of glaciers and ice sheets. Unlike the current microwave radars, the GLISTIN topographic measurements are significantly less susceptive to penetration biases. They are also less 

sensitive to cloud covers as compared to lidar topography 

measurements. In Spring 2009, GLISTIN flew on the NASA 

Gulfstream III aircraft over Greenland on a two-week campaign to 

evaluate tools and technologies for future space-based radars. 

(Principal Investigator: Delwyn Moller, Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
6

Toward the Decadal Survey

In 2007, the National Research Council (NRC) completed and released the first 10-year 

survey for Earth Science – Earth Science and Applications from Space: National 

Imperatives for the Next Decade and Beyond. Sponsored by NASA, NOAA and USGS, this 

Decadal Survey aids in the prioritization of research areas, observations, and the notional 

missions needed to realize those observations. At the time of publication, ESTO technology 

investments were already available to support all 18 of the recommended notional missions.

NASA Earth Science Missions

Instrument Technology Investments

(from the 2007 Instrument Incubator Program Solicitation)

Component Technology Investments

(from the 2008 Advanced Component Technologies Program Solicitation)

Instrument Technology Investments that include planned airborne testing 

(from the 2007 Instrument Incubator Program Solicitation)
7

NOAA Missions

Information Systems Technology Investments with Direct Applicability 

(from the 2008 Advanced Information System Technologies Program Solicitation)

Information Systems Technology Investments with Secondary Applicability 

(from the 2008 Advanced Information System Technologies Program Solicitation)

Note that individual Component and Information Systems 

Technologies often apply to more than one mission. 

Since publication of the Decadal Survey, ESTO has made 58 additional investments – within 

our instruments, components, and information systems programs – that will further support 

and enable these measurement goals. The table below shows the distributed applicability, 

by technology investment area, of these new ESTO projects to the Decadal Survey missions. 

An interactive version of this table that includes specific investment information can be 

found on the ESTO website: esto.nasa.gov
8

2009 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 technology 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 and significantly reduces costs and 

schedule uncertainties.

The IIP held some 44 active projects in FY09, 21 of which 

were added in April 2008 through a competitive solicitation 

that was broadly aimed at addressing the science measurement objectives put forward by the National Research Council Decadal Survey. The IIP also graduated 19 projects in 

FY09. Of these graduates, 14 advanced at least 1 TRL during 

the course of funding.

The Pathfinder Advanced Radar Sounder (PARIS) instrument was tapped to support Operation 

ICE Bridge flights over Greenland during the Spring of 2009. Operation ICE Bridge is an airborne science program intended to bridge the expected gap in satellite ice observations: from 

the end of the ICESat-I to the launch of the ICESat-II satellite in 2014-15. PARIS, which was carried onboard the NASA P-3 for the campaign, is a 150 MHz radar instrument designed to sound 

the basal (bottom) topography of ice sheets from high altitude. The P-3 aircraft is shown here 

taxiing on a snowy runway at Thule Air Base in Greenland. (Image Credit: Operation Ice Bridge)

Above, the UAVSAR (Uninhabited Aerial 

Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar) pod 

below the NASA Gulfstream III aircraft. 

Developed with ESTO funding, UAVSAR 

is now a fully-operational airborne 

instrument for surface deformation 

measurements. ESTO is currently 

conducting studies to integrate the 

technology onto the Global Hawk UAV 

platform. (Image Credit: Dave Bullock, 

Wired.com)
9

SPOTLIGHT: Flash LIDAR Shows Promise for Vegetation Measurements

At right are images collected during the test flights from 

250 m over a prescribed burn site in Colorado. At the top is 

a mosaic of the LIDAR intensity return (trees appear as shadows). The middle image was taken concurrently with a visible 

camera and the outline of the LIDAR image area is indicated 

in yellow. The red box in the top image indicates the approximate area of the vertical profile shown at the bottom. (Image 

Credit: Carl Weimer, Principal Investigator)

Instruments

In October 2008, a prototype Flash LIDAR instrument flew on a series of airborne tests to demonstrate 

its potential for improved vegetation measurements. The prototype is a precursor to the Electronically 

Steerable Flash LIDAR (ESFL) currently under development at Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation with funding from the NASA Earth Science Technology Office. ESFL may soon significantly expand 

our ability to measure vegetation and forests and better understand the extent of their role in global 

climate change and the carbon cycle. 

Unlike today’s LIDAR instruments, the ESFL system using a single laser to create multiple beams that 

can instantaneously sample numerous cross-track ground footprints. This approach provides a traditional 2-dimensional intensity measurement combined with a range (distance) measurement to produce 

a 3-dimensional view of vegetation that shows height, density, and shape. The multiple beams are also 

independently and non-mechanically controllable and steerable, allowing for a variety of footprint 

coverage options – from closely packed to broadly spaced out – to match the science goals.

This type of measurement could help scientists answer a wide range of pressing questions: How much 

carbon is stored (sequestered) in a particular forest? What are the global effects of land use change 

and deforestation on atmospheric carbon dioxide? Is the 

foliage in a given area concentrated near the ground, at the 

tree canopy, or vertically distributed? How would a forest fire 

progress? An ESFL-type instrument could even address questions related to biodiversity: “Certain types of birds will only 

nest in certain trees or at certain heights,” said ESFL Principal 

Investigator, Carl Weimer. “With a 3-D view, we’d be able

to determine whether those habitats exist in particular areas 

based on the shape and height of the trees.”

At present, the team is comparing the airborne data with 

ground-truth measurements and continuing to develop and 

integrate several critical components for the final ESFL 

system. More airborne tests are planned in early FY10.
2009 in Review: Information Systems

Advanced information systems are used to process, archive, 

access, visualize, communicate, and understand 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 virtually unified 

observational network. ESTO’s Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) program employs an end-to-end approach to evolve these critical technologies – from the space 

segment, where the information pipeline begins, to the end 

user, where knowledge is advanced.

The AIST program held 51 active investments in FY09, 20 of 

which were added in December 2008 through a competitive 

solicitation that sought technology development activities 

leading to new systems for sensor support, advanced data 

processing, and management of data services. These new 

projects are: 

•Real-Time In Situ Measurements for Earthquake Early Warning 

and Spaceborne Deformation Measurement Mission Support

•Geostatistical Data Fusion for Remote Sensing Applications

•QuakeSim: Accessibility and Utility of Earthquake Fault Data

•Advanced Hybrid On-Board Data Processor - SpaceCube 2.0

•Autonomous, On-board Processing for Sensor Systems

•Technology Infusion for the Real Time Mission Monitor

•Real-Time and Store-and-Forward Delivery of Unmanned Airborne Vehicle Sensor Data

•Multi-Sensor Data Synergy Advisor

•Onboard Processing and Autonomous Data Acquisition for the 

DESDynI Mission

•Sensor Web 3G to Provide Cost-Effective Customized Data 

Products for Decadal Missions

10

2009 has seen a dramatic increase in 

“major blowouts” of water mains in Los 

Angeles – above: a water main break on 

Coldwater Canyon Avenue which later 

caused a sinkhole. The L.A. Department 

of Water and Power has asked scientists, 

including Andrea Donnellan with the AISTfunded QuakeSim project, to evaluate the 

possibility that seismic activity might be 

the cause of the increase. Although the 

QuakeSim team is still analyzing seismic 

data and water main break locations, 

Donnellan has reported “some deviation 

from the normal range ground movement.” (Image Credit: Irfan Khan / Los 

Angeles Times)

•Ground Network Design & Dynamic Operation for Validation of Space Soil Moisture Measurements

•Anomaly Detection and Analysis Framework for Terrestrial Observation and Prediction System (TOPS)

•On-Board Processing for the MSPI Imaging System on ACE

•Integration of Data Assimilation, Stochastic Optimization, and Uncertainty Modeling within NASA LIS

•InSAR Scientific Computing Environment

•Moving Objects Database Technology for Weather Event Analysis and Tracking 

•End-to-End Design and Objective Evaluation of Sensor Web Modeling and Data Assimilation Architectures

•Coupling Multi-scale Modeling and Concurrent Visualizations for Improved Predictions of Tropical Highimpact Weather

•Instrument Simulator Suite for Atmospheric Remote Sensing

•OSCAR: Online Services for Correcting Atmosphere in Radar

AIST also graduated 14 projects over the course of FY09, 12 of which advanced at least one TRL during 

the course of funding. 
Information Systems 

11

In a collaborative effort between USGS, NASA, and Washington State University Vancouver, high-tech “spider” pods were 

placed inside and around the mouth of Mount St. Helens 

to create a network that could one day be used to respond 

rapidly to an impending eruption. The fifteen pods form a 

virtual wireless network, communicating with each other 

and the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite, which can be 

triggered to take observations from space. 

“This project demonstrates that a low-cost sensor network 

system can support real-time monitoring in extremely challenging environments,” said WenZhan Song of Washington 

State University Vancouver. Song is the principal investigator for an AIST-funded project tasked with developing the 

autonomous networking software.

The spiders were built to operate in extreme temperatures 

and treacherous terrain. Each pod contains a seismometer 

to detect earthquakes; a GPS receiver to pinpoint the exact 

location and measure subtle ground deformation; an infrared sounder to sense volcanic explosions; and a lightning 

detector to search for ash cloud formation. The main instrument box is the size and shape of a microwave oven. It sits 

on top of a three-legged tripod, which is why scientists call 

them spiders. The pods are powered by batteries that can 

last for at least a year.

The network of pods can supply long-term data without 

endangering researchers as well as quickly provide valuable 

real-time information to emergency services in the event of 

an eruption. “We hope this network will provide a blueprint 

for future networks to be installed on many of the world’s 

unmonitored active volcanoes,” said Sharon Kedar of the Jet 

Propulsion Laboratory.

This work is one of several AIST-funded projects that are 

developing sensor webs to provide timely data and analyses 

for scientific research, natural disaster mitigation, and the 

exploration of hazardous environments.

SPOTLIGHT: Sensor Web Technology Aids Volcano Monitoring Effort

On July 14, 2009, several “spider” pods 

like the one shown above were lowered 

by cable from a helicopter hovering 

about 100 feet up and gently put in hot 

spots inside and around the volcano 

crater of Mt. St. Helens. (Image Credit: 

Willie Scott / USGS)
12

2009 in Review: Components

The Advanced Component Technology (ACT) program leads research, development, and testing of 

component- and subsystem-level technologies for future state-of-the-art Earth science instruments and 

instrument 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 FY09, the ACT program portfolio held a total of 28 investments. 16 of these projects were added in 

November 2008 through a competitive solicitation that sought component technologies in four broad 

areas – active optical, passive optical, microwave, and calibration for radiation measurements. These 

new projects are: 

• A Low Cost, Lightweight Corrugated Mirror Telescope Array for Lidar and Passive Earth Science Missions

• A Large High-Precision Deployable Reflector for Ka- and W-band Earth Remote Sensing

• Advanced Thermal Packaging Technologies for RF Hybrids

• A Time-Domain Polarization Scrambler for Wavelength-Diverse Sensors

• Hybridized Visible-NIR Blind Focal Plane Arrays

• An Ultra-Sensitive Near-Infrared Optical Receiver Using Avalanche Photodiodes

• A Hybrid Doppler Wind Lidar Transceiver

• Detector Technology Development for Cloud-Aerosol Transport Lidar

• A GNSS Radio Frequency Hybrid Integrated Circuit For Digital Beamforming Applications

• Far-Infrared Extended Blocked Impurity Band Detectors Optimized for Earth Radiance Measurements

• CO2 Laser Absorption Spectroscopy Sensor Instrument Technology Maturation for ASCENDS

• Low-Mass, Low-Power High-Frequency Radiometers for Coastal Wet-Tropospheric Correction on SWOT

• An In-Pixel Digitization Read Out Integrated Circuit for the Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events 

(GEO-CAPE) Mission

• A Low Power, High Bandwidth Receiver for Ka-band Interferometry

• A Large Aperture, Solid Surface Deployable Reflector

• A Large, Deployable Ka-Band Reflectarray For The SWOT Mission

These projects have the potential for significant advancement in the technology readiness of the Earth 

science measurements recommended by the NRC Decadal Survey. The ACT program also graduated 11 

projects in FY09, 9 of which advanced at least one TRL over their course of funding.

At left is a fully assembled brassboard of a 230-GHz superconductor-insulatorsuperconductor (SIS) receiver for microwave limb sounding. Wide bandwidth 

microwave limb sounders can provide accurate, simultaneous measurements 

of more than a dozen important molecules in the upper troposphere and 

stratosphere. This advanced technology receiver achieves twenty times the 

sensitivity of the limb sounder receivers employed on Aura and may contribute significantly to the Global Atmospheric Composition Mission. 

The receiver will be used immediately in a recently-selected ESTO IIP 

task – “A Scanning Microwave Limb Sounder for Studying Fast 

Processes in the Troposphere” – as well as in existing ground and balloon instruments. 

(Image Credit: Karen Lee, Principal Investigator)
The “High-Precision Adaptive Control of Large 

Antenna Surface” ACT technology development task (principal investigator: Houfei 

Fang) sought to develop a high-precision 

adaptive control system to correct the surface distortions in large, deployable, membrane antennas. Large, space-deployable 

antennas are a critical technology for future remote sensing systems at medium- or 

geosynchronous-Earth orbit (GEO) to provide 

detailed monitoring of Earth’s resources, 

weather, and climate. Ensuring that a large 

flexible antenna can maintain the correct 

shape and figure once deployed in space is a 

key challenge. 

The adaptive control system developed and 

tested under this task utilized several stateof-the-art technologies, include Flexible 

PVDF (Poly-Vinylidene Fluoride) Polymer Film 

actuators, an advanced membrane reflector, wavefront sensing metrology, and active 

shape control laws. These individual technologies will contribute significantly toward the 

development of a new generation of large, 

lightweight membrane antennas.

At right are the back (top) and front (bottom) 

of a fully-assembled 2.4 meter reflector. 168 

actuators in three rings are visible on the 

back of the antenna as are 735 retroreflective targets. 

Performance analyses conducted on this 

breadboard antenna correlated well with the experimental data and suggest that it would be feasible 

to scale up to a larger antenna (as large as 35 m) and achieve the required surface precision for GEO. 

At the time of publication, this breadboard antenna is considered the first demonstration of an actively 

controlled inflatable membrane antenna of this size. (Image Credit: Houfei Fang, Principal Investigator) 

13 Components

SPOTLIGHT: A Precise Control System for Large Antenna Surfaces
Future Challenges

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

• Tropospheric vector winds using lidar

ESTO investments have, for many years, been buying down the risk of nearly all of the measurements 

recommended by the Decadal Survey. This is a testament to ESTO’s best practices for technology development: competitive, peer-reviewed solicitations; active technology management; and broad-based, 

inclusive strategic planning. ESTO continues to monitor, and match investments to, the evolving needs 

of Earth science through engagement with the science community, development of technology requirements, and strategic planning for long-term investments.

In addition to established science measurement goals laid out in the NRC Decadal Survey and other 

strategic planning documents, ESTO has identified four broad areas that have the capacity to expand 

and support a multitude of Earth science disciplines:

14

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

hazards measurements.

• Temperature, water vapor, and precipitation from geostationary orbit

• 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
Additional Resources

15

A wealth of additional materials is available online at the 

ESTO home page – http://esto.nasa.gov – including:

Information about 

ESTO solicitations 

and awards

More about ESTO’s 

approach to technology development,

ESTO programs, and 

strategic planning

A compilation of

useful reports, 

presentations, and 

other documents on 

technology

development for 

NASA Earth science 

A fully searchable database 

of ESTO investments

An active, regularly updated section for 

news items and announcements

Timely features on 

current ESTO 

technology progress 

and infusions

An interactive tool 

that shows ESTO’s 

linkages to the NRC 

Decadal Survey
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Earth Science Technology Office

Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 407.0

Greenbelt, MD 20771

www.esto.nasa.gov

www.nasa.gov