1. Goddard Contractors Association
Carlos
- Ocean color pic
Goddard Contractors Association
May 19, 2015
Understanding the Living Oceans from space
Pre-Aerosol, Clouds, & ocean Ecosystem
Project Manager: Andre Dress
Deputy Project Scientist: Antonio Mannino

2. Fact Sheet Organization Science Goals Directed Mission to GSFC
The PACE mission will make global ocean color measurements for ocean ecology and global biogeochemistry along with polarimetery measurements on clouds and aerosols:
Primary: Understand and quantify global biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem function in response to anthropogenic and natural environmental variability and change
Secondary: Understand and resolve/quantify the role of aerosols and clouds in physical climate
Mission Elements
Ocean Color Instrument:
In House Build
Polarimeter Instrument:
JPL Provided
Contributed
Procured
Spacecraft:
Procurement
In-House Build
Mission Overview
Pre-Phase A Schedule
Pre-Phase A
Design to Cost Mission
$805M with $100 Million for Science
Class C Mission
97° inclination; ~650 km altitude; sun sync
Launch 2022 – 2023
3 years Phase E
8/27/15 - TMC Review
11/18/15 - Mission Concept Review
KDP-A - 12/9/15
April 22, 2015

3. Cost Capped Mission Cap is $805M and includes the following:
Project team at GSFC (to include PM, SE, & SMA functions)
Spacecraft bus
Launch vehicle
Instrument payload
3 years of mission operations
Project-held UFE
Data processing/analysis to be performed by GSFC’s Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG)
Mission Science ($100M Dedicated to Science)
Calibration/validation (hardware & execution)
Science team support (development phase & post launch)
JCL expectation at KDP-C is 65% for management agreement
April 22, 2015

4. Why PACE Science Background
Importance of Phytoplankton (ocean color)
Despite comprising < 1% of plant/algal biomass on Earth
phytoplankton produce 50-70% of the oxygen we breathe
Phytoplankton represent the first link in the marine food web & play key role in the ecology of the ecosystem
Potential feedbacks on climate change in response to human and natural environmental variability and change
Importance of Aerosols and Clouds
Aerosol quantity and composition impacts the solar radiative flux that is absorbed or scattered within Earth’s atmosphere
Cloud composition, and distributions impacts the solar radiative flux

5. Phytoplankton & our changing climate
phytoplankton fix* 100M tons of carbon / day
= 40B tons carbon / year (~40 Pg C each year)
> 99% of organic carbon resides in marine sediments
Sallie W. Chisholm, Nature 407, (2000)
* fixing carbon is the process of converting CO2 to organic matter

6. PACE Science Drivers-Oceans
WHY are ecosystems changing, WHO within an ecosystem are driving change, WHAT are the consequences & HOW will the future ocean look?
PACE will allow research into:
Plankton Stocks – Distinguish living phytoplankton from other constituents and identify nutrient stressors from turbid coastal waters to the bluest ocean
Plankton Diversity – Characterize phytoplankton functional groups, particle size distributions, and dominant species
Ocean Carbon – Assess changes in carbon concentrations, primary production, net community production and carbon export to the deep sea
Human Impacts – Evaluate changes in land-ocean interactions, water quality, recreation, and other goods & services
Understanding Change – Provide superior data precision and accuracy, advanced atmospheric correction, inter-mission synergies
Forecasting Futures – Resolve mechanistic linkages between biology and physics that support of process-based modeling of future changes

7. PACE will improve our understanding of ocean ecosystems and carbon cycling through its…
Spectral Resolution – 5 nm resolution to separate constituents, characterize phytoplankton communities & nutrient stressors
Spectral Range – Ultraviolet to Near Infrared covers key ocean spectral features
Atmospheric Corrections – UV bands allow ‘spectral anchoring‘, SWIR for turbid coastal systems. A polarimeter option for advanced aerosol characterization.
Strict Data Quality Requirements – Reliable detection of temporal trends and assessments of ecological rates
PACE mission and operations concept will be similar to the successful SeaWiFS mission. UV
VISIBLE
NIR
SWIR

8. Unprecedented spectral and radiometric requirements
Data will be downloaded at max resolution.
SDT Instrument threshold requirements

9. how will PACE advance our ability to discriminate between phytoplankton communities?
a hyperspectral instrument will substantially improve our ability to identify multiple phytoplankton communities
- standard algorithms assume that chlorophyll & all dissolved carbon components co-vary
these two components can look similar at wavelengths greater than 400 nm
UV wavelengths will enable improved separation of dissolved carbon & phytoplankton components

10. PACE - end-to-end mission concept
A mission architecture that includes
continuous post-launch calibration
solar & lunar calibration
vicarious calibration (field-based)
algorithm development and maintenance
field validation
measurement collections at sea
AERONET-ocean color
measurement protocol activities
proven science data system
SeaWiFS, MODIS, VIIRS, Aquarius
Ocean color comprises up to ~10% of the top-of-atmosphere radiances, hence the rigor required in pre-launch characterization and post-launch calibrations along with field validation and algorithm development activities.

11. Goals of the Pre-Phase A Studies
As part of the Design-to-Cost process, the project will narrow the focus of the number of studies through an iterative process in order to:
Maximize the science capability
Minimize the development risk
Maximize the cost confidence
This phase, culminated at the MCR, will provide an overview of the studies performed:
Demonstrate the iterative process has been performed
Justify the decisions for recommended concepts
Document trade studies planned to be performed in the subsequent phases A/B
May 19, 2015

12. Pre-Phase A Trades
The project is performing trades across all the elements:
Launch Vehicle, Observatory Bus, Payloads (OCI, Polarimeter), RF, and Ground System
Trades focus on science capability, engineering, and operations and how this affects cost, schedule and risk
Some trades for key elements will lead to procurement recommendations and will be presented at the MCR, KDP-A and the ASM
Primarily focused on the Spacecraft, Polarimeter and possibly Launch Vehicle
May 19, 2015

13. PACE Pre-Phase A Project Organization Chart
April 22, 2015

14. PACE Pre-Phase A Mission Activities
Develop Pre-Phase A studies schedule
Building project leadership team
Establishing high-level requirements and flow
Refining in house spacecraft concept and cost estimates
Release spacecraft RFI
Assessing technology, concepts, and performance trade studies
Developing operations concepts & acquisition strategies
Developing risk assessments and risk mitigation plans
Preparing cost estimates, budget submissions, and schedules
Preparing products and document control plans
April 22, 2015

15. PACE Acquisition Options
Item
Description
Acquisition
Approach
Spacecraft
BUS
Independent procurement
RSDO Rapid III
In-House Build
Contributed
Aerosol Instrument
Polarimeter
Competitive (RFP or AO)
JPL Provided
Launch Vehicle
Falcon 9, Atlas
KSC/ULA
Provided by Spacecraft Vendor (Delivery in Orbit)
April 22, 2015

16. Pre-Phase A Mission Schedule
April 22, 2015