GOES-R R&D Instrument last updated: 15 November 2005

Workshop Announcement

GOES-R R&D Instrument Workshop
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Thursday, 17 November 2005
Building 33, room H120 (30-man conference room)
Conf. room phone: 301-614-6533

Goddard Space Flight Center will host a one-day workshop to review the possible options for placing a NASA-supplied R&D instrument on the upcoming GOES-R series of NOAA satellites. Neither NOAA nor NASA nor the GOES program/project is committed to such an endeavor, but it pays us to be prepared if they do.

This workshop is an informal gathering of working-level scientists and engineers to explore the potential for gathering additional science data from the geosynchronous vantage point. Such a new instrument would have to satisfy the scientific objectives and operational needs of both agencies. The workshop also aims to discover the GOES-R platform limitations and requirements for this endeavor, so that a workable instrument design can be formulated.

Targets for remote sensing from GEO include phenomena which are regional, unpredictable, and diurnal or rapidly developing, such as:

Each scientist making a presentation should: Participants can e-mail their presentation to the organizers and speak via conference call, if travel is burdensome. It is even possible to submit a proposal/presentation without attending in any way, if schedule conflicts occur.

We invite each participant to provide an "executive summary" of their proposal for the workshop report, to help make their case in the workshop report.

This meeting is a joint NOAA-NASA workshop organized by Dennis Chesters (dennis.chesters@nasa.gov), Paul Menzel (paul.menzel@noaa.gov) and Stan Wilson (stan.wilson@noaa.gov). Any scientist wishing to present a candidate R&D instrument on GOES-R should contact them to get on the workshop agenda. Workshop participants can be non-Goddard scientists who see an opportunity for a cooperative venture with the Center.

After the workshop, candidates will be considered for subsequent instrument-design and cost-estimate support by Goddard Space Flight Center in preparation for proposal development. The organizers will write a summary report to Goddard management by the end of November 2005.

Meeting Agenda

GOES-R R&D Instrument Workshop
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Thursday, 17 November 2005
Building 33, room H120 (30-man conference room)

Introduction (9:00 am to 9:45 am)

Break (9:45 to 10:00 am -- refreshments provided)

Presentations by potential lead scientists (10:00 am to noon, or a little later):

  1. microwave sounder -- Dave Staelin/MIT (remote)
  2. microwave sounder -- Bjorn Lambrigsten/JPL
  3. tropospheric chemistry -- Randy Kawa/GSFC
  4. aerosols -- P.K. Bhartia/GSFC
  5. carbon monoxide -- Bill Heaps/GSFC
  6. carbon monoxide -- Jack Kumer/LMATC
  7. vegetation photosynthesis -- Forrest Hall/UMBC
  8. coastal color -- Janet Campbell/UNH
  9. solar coronagraph -- Joe Gurman/GSFC

Lunch (noon to 1:00 pm)

Discussion (1:00 pm to 3:00 pm)

The organizers will summarize the options presented, particularly the value of the new science/operations data, and the GOES-R platform requirements/impact. This review is to make sure that the organizers understood the pros and cons of the proposals and can communicate them to management.

End of workshop (3:00 pm)

Reference Materials

This section contains links to public reference materials, and a brief description of their significance.

GOES-R User Conferences

NOAA holds GOES-R Users conferences every other year, which contain presentations of the status of the program, the instruments being considered, and users' reactions to upgraded system. The fourth conference is planned for 1-3 May 2006 in Broomfield CO (between Denver and Boulder). Several hundred people attend each conference. This conference is the best place to discuss the option for a R&D instrument on GOES-R with the rest of the community.

GOES-R Operational Instruments

The GOES-R instruments are being formulated before the spacecraft and ground system architecture will be established. The GOES-R Industry site contains all the performance and interface requirements for the proposed operational instruments: In FY05, only the imager has been contracted for implementation. The other instruments are in formulation during FY06. NOAA has developed a long list of planned data products from the imager and sounder.

NOAA is about to begin Program Definition and Risk Reduction (PDRR) studies with 3 contractors, with formulations of the entire system due in three installments during 2006-7.

The GOES-I/M and -N/P "Instrument of Opportunity" (IOO)

The "instrument of opportunity" was a NOAA R&D option originally targeted for the GOES-8/12 series in the 1990's, and carried over into the GOES-N/O/P series to be launched in the 2000's. However, there were no takers, despite several viable proposals in 1999, apparently due to a lack of agreement about accommodation costs.

NOAA's Unmet Operational Requirements for GOES-R

NOAA calls out the data products that are useful to NOAA's mission, but not targeted for operational sensors on GOES-R as "pre-Planned Product Improvements" (P3I), and lists them in a section of the GOES Product Requirements Document.

The trace to GOES instruments/technology that might deliver each P3I product are enumerated in corresponding sections of the GOES Mission Requirements Document (MRD).

Dennis.Chesters@nasa.gov
GOES Project