The methodology developed under this grant is primarily an effort to develop new sub-payload technologies and an inexpensive method of testing them. The three technical goals are: (1) to improve and test the existing spring sub-payload ejection system and rocket propelled ejection system, (2) to test the performance of ampule-deployed radar chaff (rather than TMA) to track high altitude winds, and (3) to develop and test sensor and telemetry packages to monitor the attitude stability and position of deployed sub-payloads.  The proposed effort will also demonstrate very low cost, low altitude rockets as an inexpensive flight test of payloads prior to expensive sounding rocket deployments. The payloads tested on 5 to 7 low-cost rockets will be (1) foil chaff designed for radar tracking of mesospheric winds, (2) plasma instruments composed of GPS monitors, magnetometers, and accelerometers, and (3) android phones for the investigation of off-the-shell instrumentation and telemetry.  Finally, a campaign of 2 to 4 sounding rocket deployments on ‘as-available’ flights from Poker Flats will be used to test spring ejection without spin up, spring ejection with spin up for sub-payload attitude control, and rocket ejection

The Enhanced Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Airborne Simulator (eMAS)instrument is maintained and operated by the Airborne Sensor Facility at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, under the oversight of the EOS Project Science Office at NASA Goddard. The eMAS instrument is now a 38-channel instrument, sensing in the range from 0.445 to 13.844 um. The Enhanced MODIS Airborne Simulator (eMAS) L2 Aerosol Data product (eMASL2AER) consists of in-situ measurements of trace gas and aerosol emissions for wildfires and prescribed fires in great detail, relate them to fuel and fire conditions at the point of emission, characterize the conditions relating to plume rise, follow plumes downwind to understand chemical transformation and air quality impacts, and assess the efficacy of satellite detections for estimating the emissions from sampled fires. These measurements were collected onboard the DC-8 aircraft during FIREX-AQ, during summer 2019. The DC-8 aircraft had a comprehensive instrument payload capable of measuring over 200 trace gases as well as aerosol microphysical, optical, and chemical properties. The eMASL2AER product files are stored in Hierarchical Data Format (HDF-EOS). All gridded cloud parameters are stored as Scientific Data Sets (SDS) within the file. For more information and for a list of MAS campaign flights visit ladsweb at: https://ladsweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/missions-and-measurements/mas/ or, visit the eMAS Homepage at: https://asapdata.arc.nasa.gov/emas/

The Alpha Jet Atmospheric eXperiment (AJAX) is a partnership between NASA's Ames Research Center and H211, L.L.C., facilitating routine in-situ measurements over California, Nevada, and the coastal Pacific in support of satellite validation. The standard payload complement includes rigorously-calibrated ozone (O3), formaldehyde (HCHO), carbon dioxide (CO2), and methane (CH4) mixing ratios, as well as meteorological data including 3-D winds. Multiple vertical profiles (to ~8.5 km) can be accomplished in each 2-hr flight. The AJAX project has been collecting trace gas data on a regular basis in all seasons for over a decade, helping to assess satellite sensors' health and calibration over significant portions of their lifetimes, and complementing surface and tower-based observations collected elsewhere in the region. AJAX supports NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2/3) and Japan's Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) and GOSAT-2, and collaborates with many other research organizations (e.g. California Air Resources Board (CARB), NOAA, United States Forest Service (USFS), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)). AJAX celebrated its 200th science flight in 2016, and previous studies have investigated topics as varied as stratospheric-to-tropospheric transport, forest fire plumes, atmospheric river events, long-range transport of pollution from Asia to the western US, urban outflow, and emissions from gas leaks, oil fields, and dairies.

The LEARN Project explores the creation of novel concepts and processes with the potential to create new capabilities in aeronautics research through awards to the external community including university and industry teams. The LEARN Project incorporates a competitive review process of the external teams’ proposals to develop integrated solutions for complex technical problems captured in the ARMD strategic thrusts, followed by short duration activities for feasibility assessment. Follow-on phases of the most promising ideas are also funded. LEARN also utilizes challenges and prizes to the external community.  With these processes, NASA funds also help catalyze investments from the aerospace and non-aerospace communities toward solving problems aligned with NASA interests.

The NASA Aeronautics Research Institute (NARI) has been established to achieve the LEARN Project’s goals.  NARI will complement other ARMD efforts in seeking early-stage innovative concepts applicable to a broad spectrum of aeronautical challenges in the nation’s air transportation system by sponsoring research solicitations and by hosting future competitive challenges. The Institute will coordinate these efforts and communicate the outcome of the research conducted to interested parties both internal and external to NASA. ARMD’s goal is to mature the new concepts in order to infuse them into current ARMD research programs, to enable new avenues of aeronautics research that are not currently supported by ARMD program and project funds, or to achieve practical application by the aeronautics community.

The Enhanced Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Airborne Simulator (eMAS)instrument is maintained and operated by the Airborne Sensor Facility at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, under the oversight of the EOS Project Science Office at NASA Goddard. The eMAS instrument is now a 38-channel instrument, sensing in the range from 0.445 to 13.844 um.The Enhanced MODIS Airborne Simulator (eMAS) L2 Aerosol Data product (eMASL2AER) consists of in-situ measurements of trace gas and aerosol emissions for wildfires and prescribed fires in great detail, relate them to fuel and fire conditions at the point of emission, characterize the conditions relating to plume rise, follow plumes downwind to understand chemical transformation and air quality impacts, and assess the efficacy of satellite detections for estimating the emissions from sampled fires. These measurements were collected onboard the DC-8 aircraft during FIREX-AQ, during summer 2019. The DC-8 aircraft had a comprehensive instrument payload capable of measuring over 200 trace gases as well as aerosol microphysical, optical, and chemical properties. The eMASL2AER product files are stored in Hierarchical Data Format (HDF-EOS). All gridded cloud parameters are stored as Scientific Data Sets (SDS) within the file.For more information and for a list of MAS campaign flights visit ladsweb at:https://ladsweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/missions-and-measurements/mas/or, visit the eMAS Homepage at:https://asapdata.arc.nasa.gov/emas/

This dataset includes Level 1B (L1B) and Level 2 (L2) data products from the MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) instrument. The spectral data were collected as part of the Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality (FIREX-AQ) program during 21 flights aboard a NASA DC-8 aircraft over the central and western U.S. from 2019-07-22 to 2019-09-03. The purpose of these flights was to measure emissions and to characterize the aerosols in the smoke plume above and downwind of the fire, and to determine the overall spatial extent of wildfires and prescribed fires. Data products include L1B georeferenced multispectral imagery of calibrated radiance in 50 bands covering wavelengths of 0.460 to 12.879 micrometers at approximately 20-meter spatial resolution. Derived L2 data products are emissivity in 5 bands in thermal infrared range (8.58 to 12.13 micrometers) and land surface temperature. The L1B file format is HDF-4, and L2 products are provided in ENVI and KMZ formats. In addition, the dataset includes the flight path, spectral band information, instrument configuration, ancillary notes, and summary information for each flight, and browse images derived from each L1B data file.

THORPEX_ER2_MAS data are THe Observing-system Research and Predictability EXperiment (THORPEX) ER_2 MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS) Data in HDF covering Hawaii and the Pacific Ocean.THe Observing-system Research and predictability experiment (THORpex) is a ten-year international research program where the primary objective is to accelerate improvements in short range weather predictions and warnings over the Northern Hemisphere. The fifth in an ongoing series of ER-2 field experiments, THORpex is the primary over-water validation experiment for the GIFTS (Geosynchronous Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer) satellite. The MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS) is an airborne scanning spectrometer that acquires high spatial resolution imagery of cloud and surface features from its vantage point on-board a NASA ER-2 high-altitude research aircraft. The MAS spectrometer acquires high spatial resolution imagery in the range of 0.55 to 14.3 microns. A total of 50 spectral bands are available in this range. A 50-channel digitizer which records all 50 spectral bands at 12 bit resolution became operational in January 1995. The MAS spectrometer is mated to a scanner sub-assembly which collects image data with an IFOV of 2.5 mrad, giving a ground resolution of 50 meters from 20000 meters altitude, and a cross track scan width of 85.92 degrees.

THORPEX_ER2_MAS data are THe Observing-system Research and Predictability EXperiment (THORPEX) ER_2 MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS) Data in HDF covering Hawaii and the Pacific Ocean.THe Observing-system Research and predictability experiment (THORpex) is a ten-year international research program where the primary objective is to accelerate improvements in short range weather predictions and warnings over the Northern Hemisphere. The fifth in an ongoing series of ER-2 field experiments, THORpex is the primary over-water validation experiment for the GIFTS (Geosynchronous Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer) satellite. The MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS) is an airborne scanning spectrometer that acquires high spatial resolution imagery of cloud and surface features from its vantage point on-board a NASA ER-2 high-altitude research aircraft. The MAS spectrometer acquires high spatial resolution imagery in the range of 0.55 to 14.3 microns. A total of 50 spectral bands are available in this range. A 50-channel digitizer which records all 50 spectral bands at 12 bit resolution became operational in January 1995. The MAS spectrometer is mated to a scanner sub-assembly which collects image data with an IFOV of 2.5 mrad, giving a ground resolution of 50 meters from 20000 meters altitude, and a cross track scan width of 85.92 degrees.

The Mission Reports CPEX-AW dataset contains daily objectives, flight times, and instrument performance during each NASA DC-8 aircraft flight during the Convective Processes Experiment – Aerosols & Winds (CPEX-AW) field campaign. CPEX-AW was a joint effort between the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) with the primary goal of conducting a post-launch calibration and validation activities of the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission-Aeolus (ADM-AEOLUS) Earth observation wind Lidar satellite in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Data are available from August 20, 2021 through August 27, 2021 in Microsoft Word Doc format.

The Mission Reports CPEX-AW dataset contains daily objectives, flight times, and instrument performance during each NASA DC-8 aircraft flight during the Convective Processes Experiment – Aerosols & Winds (CPEX-AW) field campaign. CPEX-AW was a joint effort between the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) with the primary goal of conducting a post-launch calibration and validation activities of the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission-Aeolus (ADM-AEOLUS) Earth observation wind Lidar satellite in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Data are available from August 20, 2021 through August 27, 2021 in Microsoft Word Doc format.