Mace, Thomas H. | Engineering Papers

NASA NTRS2009

Airborne Science Program: Observing Platforms for Earth Science Investigations

This slide presentation reviews the Airborne Science Program and the platforms used for conducting investigations for the Earth System Science. Included is a chart that shows some of the aircraft and the operational altitude and the endurance of the aircraft, views of the Dryden Aircraft Operation Facility, and some of the current aircraft that the facility operates, and the varieties of missions that are flown and the type of instrumentation. Also included is a chart showing the attributes of the various aircraft (i.e., duration, weight for a payload, maximum altitude, airspeed and range) for comparison

Mace, Thomas H.↗

NASA NTRS2009

UAVSAR - A New Airborne L-Band Radar for Repeat Pass Interferometry

NASA/JPL has developed a new airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) which has become available for use by the scientific community in January, 2009. Pod mounted, the UAVSAR was designed to be portable among a variety of aircraft, including unmanned aerial systems (UAS). The instrument operates in the L-Band, has a resolution under 2m from a GPS altitude of 12Km and a swath width of approximately 20Km. UAVSAR currently flies on a modified Gulfstream-III aircraft, operated by NASA s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, California. The G-III platform enables repeat-pass interferometric measurements, by using a modified autopilot and precise kinematic differential GPS to repeatedly fly the aircraft within a specified 10m tube. The antenna is electronically steered along track to assure that the antenna beam can be directed independently, regardless of speed and wind direction. The instrument can be controlled remotely, AS AN OPTION, using the Research Environment for Vehicle Embedded Analysis on Linux (REVEAL). This allows simulation of the telepresence environment necessary for flight on UAS. Potential earth science research and applications include surface deformation, volcano studies, ice sheet dynamics, and vegetation structure.

Mace, Thomas H.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Global Test Range: Toward Airborne Sensor Webs

This viewgraph presentation reviews the planned global sensor network that will monitor the Earth's climate, and resources using airborne sensor systems. The vision is an intelligent, affordable Earth Observation System. Global Test Range is a lab developing trustworthy services for airborne instruments - a specialized Internet Service Provider. There is discussion of several current and planned missions.

Mace, Thomas H.↗