SWOT Surface Water and Ocean Topography Mission Risk

SWOT Surface Water and Ocean Topography Mission Risk Reduction Activities Ernesto Rodríguez Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -1 February 1, 2008

Risk Reduction Study Selection Process SWOT • Mission Definition Studies: required prior to mission start! – – Define mission science requirements Assess the feasibility of meeting the measurement requirements (& iterate) Define mission implementation requirements (feasibility & cost & iterate) Retire phenomelogy risks (Wet tropo, river backscatter/resolution, EM bias, &iterate) – Mission definition plan iterated during November and December with SWG • Technology Risk Studies: required to retire major mission technology risks prior to mission start – On NASA side: Instrument Incubator Program (IIP) proposal • Programmatic goals: – Coordinated progress between CNES phase zero studies and NASA studies – Mission Concept Review in FY 2009 • Detailed discussions on the partnering responsibilities, schedule and milestones are ongoing and will be clarified in this meeting and a subsequent meeting (Monday) in Toulouse Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -2 February 1, 2008

SWOT Water HM: Year 1 Objectives The SWOT design must be tuned to meet the science requirements from both communities in the most efficient fashion. This requires formalizing both the science requirements as well as the mission and instrument design, so as to deliver accurate performance, risk and cost assessments. The proposed FY 08 overall objectives are: – Finalize science goals and derive level 1 requirements – Formalize a mission and system design and assess its end-to-end performance. – Identify all instrument and mission risk areas and perform cost assessment. These objectives are implemented as six separate tasks, described in the following viewgraphs. Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -3 February 1, 2008

SWOT Task 1: Oceanography science studies Objective: the Science Working Group will identify the mission Level 1 ocean science requirements and rationale with detailed sciencecost trade-offs. Rationale: The science requirements constitutes the baseline that enables the mission definition team to start developing a mission and instrument design. Approach: – Definition of the science scope and significance for sub-mesoscale processes and translation into measurement requirements (April 2008 workshop) – Review and development of improved coastal and internal tide models. – Review of state-of-the-art mesoscale atmospheric water vapor modes and development of improved algorithms for conventional radiometer water-vapor retrieval in coastal areas. – Develop science questions in mesoscale air-sea interaction processes. Deliverables: – SWG report (10/2008). Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -4 February 1, 2008

SWOT Task 2: Hydrology science studies Objective: the Science Working Group will identify the mission Level 1 hydrology science requirements and rationale with detailed sciencecost trade-offs. Rationale: The science requirements constitutes the baseline that enables the mission definition team to start developing a mission and instrument design. Approach: – Definition of the spatial and temporal sampling, spatial resolution, and height accuracies requirements for understanding water storage changes. – Studies coordinated with Virtual Mission studies funded by NASA terrestrial hydrology program – Studies also coordinated with ongoing studies at LEGOS and Bristol Deliverables: – SWG report (10/2008). Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -5 February 1, 2008

SWOT Key Outcome from Science Studies • Science definition document (Level-1 requirements) – Instrument team (on both sides) need this by 2007 • Although this goal may be a bit too aggressive… – A preliminary working version would be nice, of course… • Some important issues: – – – Full coverage needed (no gaps, land or ocean)? Temporal sampling requirements? Required small and long wavelength accuracy? Land & Coastal mask? Data product definition? Data product latency? Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -6 February 1, 2008

SWOT Task 3: Mission Orbital Design Definition Example Water HM sampling (9. 95 days) Objective: To finalize an orbit selection that balances and satisfies the hydrology and oceanographic requirements and constraints Rationale: Finalizing the orbit selection is imperative as a key driver for many instrument and mission design decisions Approach: Due to tidal aliasing, a sunsynchronous orbit is not feasible. Candidate orbits with inclination > 75 o and altitudes ranging from 800 -1000 km are proposed that are acceptable in terms of sampling and coverage goals. - Down-select orbit based on mission (i. e. launch vehicle candidacy/cost), instrument (i. e. power) and scattering predictions (i. e. achievable swath based on geometry) 140 km Deliverables: – Orbit definition document (5/2008). Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -7 February 1, 2008

SWOT Key Outcome • Define orbit altitude, inclination, and subcycles – Needed to define calibration accuracy – Needed for instrument power – Needed for sizing antenna – Needed to define launch vehicle – Needed to define ground stations required Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -8 February 1, 2008

SWOT Task 4: Instrument Error Budget and Calibration Objective: Develop an integrated measurement error budget and calibration simulation tools capable of predicting mission performance for design trade-studies. Rationale: To optimize instrument performance by characterizing noise errors and developing necessary calibration schemes. Approach: Three primary subtasks will be developed: 1. An integrated measurement error budget for the system that accounts for random and systematic instrument noise errors, as well as (uncompensated) wet-tropospheric delays and the impact of vegetation. 2. To develop and validate suitable calibration schemes (cross-over and DEM-based) using realistic errors sources and tailored to: a) open ocean, b) coastal regions and c) large inland water bodies, and rivers, wetland, and small lakes. 3. Assess the impact of the nadir altimeter and multi-channel radiometer. Path delay (PD) error from 3 -12 km as a function of PD and cloud liquid water (CLW) standard deviation 92, 130, 166 GHz Deliverables: – Instrument error budget (7/2008). – Calibration techniques for error mitigation (8/2008) – Nadir altimeter and radiometer system requirements document (8/2008) – Error budget for floodplain topography (9/2008). Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -9 February 1, 2008

SWOT Ocean Cross-Over Calibration Concept • Roll errors are the dominant error source for WSOA and must be removed by calibration. Residual range and phase errors are also removed. • Assume the ocean does not change significantly between crossover visits (<5 days) • For each cross-over, estimate the baseline roll and roll rate for each of the passes using altimeter-interferometer and interferometer-interferometer cross-over differences, which define an overconstrained linear system. • Interpolate along-track baseline parameters between calibration regions by using smooth interpolating function (e. g, cubic spline. ) Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -10 February 1, 2008

SWOT WSOA Distribution of Time Separation Between Calibration Regions The revisit statistics will change for SWOT due to orbit changes Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -11 February 1, 2008

SWOT WSOA Sea Surface Height Performance Input roll errors based on Alcatel ‘ 99 study: 2 dominant components with 50 sec/97 cm and 2 sec/2 cm periods/amplitudes: - worst case assumption since both error sources are inside the 1 sec-80 sec “passband”. Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT Pixel Size: 14 km Height error includes both random and residual systematic errors 1 -12 February 1, 2008

SWOT Height Error Performance for 14 km Resolution LANL Model Variability • Error estimated based on T/P cycles 22 -39 • No smoothing to height data has been applied Simulation Normalized Error Simulation RSS Error Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -13 February 1, 2008

SWOT WSOA Velocity Estimation Error LANL Model Geostrophic Velocity Estimation window: 45 km WSOA Simulated Geostrophic Velocity Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -14 February 1, 2008

SWOT V Component Velocity Error estimated based on T/P cycles 22 -39 Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -15 February 1, 2008

SWOT Assessment of Wet-Tropo Errors • Use regional models to generate realistic wet-tropo signals (coast, inland rivers, large bodies) • Simulate instrument “raw” heights – Assess error magnitude and spatial scale – Does error need to be corrected? – Can error be corrected by large scale NWP wet tropo? – What is the impact of a radiometer? – How well does land calibration work? Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -16 February 1, 2008

SWOT Hydrology Issues • How well does land calibration work? • What is to be done with rivers above SRTM coverage? – Can high latitude frequent revisits be used so that DEM calibration is not required? • Can river bed/flood-plain topography be retrieved with significant accuracy? – Is this a mission data product? Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -17 February 1, 2008

SWOT Task 5: Mission and Instrument Definition Study Objective: To formalize an instrument and mission design that meets the science Level 1 requirements Rationale: To mature the mission/instrument design to support a detailed mass/power/cost assessment in Year 2. Approach: – Definition of key instrument parameters. – Define the instrument to block diagram level, to identify its mechanical configuration, derive data rate budgets, and to identify key critical technology drivers. – Identify key spacecraft requirements and implementation solutions that meet power generation (for continuous science data collection in the selected orbit), data handling (examining on-board compression, Solid-State Recorders, downlink subsystems, and ground stations requirements), and attitude control system requirements (accounting for mast, antenna and solar panel dynamics error budgets). Deliverables: – Mission definition document (8/2008). – Instrument definition document (10/2008). Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -18 February 1, 2008

SWOT Key Issues • What are the measurement components? – Jason type altimeter + AMR or Alti. KA with integrated radiometers • What are the power requirements on the spacecraft? • What are the attitude roll requirements of the spacecraft? Which spacecraft meet these requirements? • What data rate is required? – How can we download it? – How can we process it? • Are there key technologies that need to be developed prior to mission start? Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -19 February 1, 2008

SWOT Task 6: Field Observations of Fresh Water Bodies Objective: Expand Ka-band field observations of fresh water bodies to a greater range of environmental conditions. Rationale: Initial observations indicate fundamental limits to the spatial resolution, and possibly swath loss at higher incidence angles (more pronounced at higher orbits). More comprehensive observations and analysis will help assess the extent of potential data compromise. Approach: Using the same radar system as the previous campaign we will redeploy for a longer duration to capture a greater range of conditions. – Observations will be coupled with wind and surface conditions to better define limiting cases – Predict mission impact or constraints Deliverables: – Scientific journal paper reporting observations and analysis (9/2008). • Question: what about the EM bias for the ocean? Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -20 February 1, 2008

SWOT Mission Definition Year 2 Objectives The overall objective for Year 2 is to ensure a FY 10 start of Phase-A studies. To this end, we proposed to perform the following tasks (to be refined after year 1 studies) : – Provide a detailed mass and power breakdown with costing for the possible mission scenarios. – Refine bus and launch vehicle accommodation requirements. – Develop the suite of documents required for the Mission and System Readiness reviews. – Design the ground data system and mature key algorithms for the data processing system. – Retiring the critical risk items identified during the Year 1 studies. – Refine the science questions initiated during Year 1. – Define the science data products at levels 2 and 3. Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -21 February 1, 2008

SWOT Technology Risk Reduction NASA IIP • The latest AO release of the NASA IIP was targeted for technology risk reduction of NRC decadal review missions • JPL submitted a SWOT IIP proposal – Lee Fu PI (Rodríguez, Alsdorf, Esteban, Brown, Hodges & others co-I’s) – Proposals expected to be adjudicated in Spring (or early summer? ) Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -22 February 1, 2008

SWOT Technology Risk Reduction NASA IIP • Technologies addressed: – On-board processor • Needs to do onboard range compression, SAR processing, interferometry, averaging (calibration? ) • PRF is ~10 faster than WSOA! – Ka-band antenna • Ka-band, long (~4 m) and skinny (~15 cm). What is the right architecture? Deployment? Multipath? – High-frequency radiometer • If one is needed, does it cover the swath? Nadir? How to implement it within current architectures? • Proposal details fall under ITAR restrictions for the moment Risk Reduction Studies for SWOT 1 -23 February 1, 2008