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

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

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

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

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, 685-687 (2000) * fixing carbon is the process of converting CO2 to organic matter

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

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

Unprecedented spectral and radiometric requirements Data will be downloaded at max resolution. http://decadal.gsfc.nasa.gov/pace.html SDT Instrument threshold requirements

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Pre-Phase A Mission Schedule April 22, 2015