TOMCAT: A SmallSat Lidar for Cloud/Aerosol Profiling and Hazard Events
Abstract
The concept of lidar profiling of aerosols and clouds on a SmallSat platform is highly meritorious. The potential for multiple SmallSats distributed to optimize temporal or spatial coverage, and thus capable of sampling diurnal variability, is a major step forward from existing mission architectures. Realistic budgetary constraints in Earth Science make SmallSats attractive compared to the traditional monolithic spacecraft bus. SmallSats with low cost per satellite, hosted on ESPA ring launches can be a cost-effective solution for near-term Earth Science needs. Considered as a network, the SmallSat solution is also infinitely scalable to fit within budgetary constraints - it is easy to launch one, then two, and then add nodes or replace failed nodes as-needed.
Despite the potential science impact for SmallSat lidar, there is an unfortunate belief that active remote sensing (typically driven by power-aperture) is incompatible with SmallSats. Researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have a long history of developing airborne lidar sensors for cloud/aerosol detection. That heritage was leveraged to build the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) on the International Space Station (ISS). Lessons learned from CATS have been further leveraged to develop a SmallSat concept, the Targeted Observational Measurements of Cloud-Aerosol Transport (TOMCAT). Funding from NASA's Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) has allowed development of a SmallSat-compatible laser transmitter intended for use in a backscatter lidar for study of clouds and aerosols. This presentation will cover (1) the science impact of a potential SmallSat backscatter lidar; (2) the measurement and technology heritage that enables the TOMCAT concept; (3) the lessons learned from CATS on ISS that contribute to the TOMCAT concept; and (4) the real-time data applications that can be realized from a SmallSat lidar.- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFM.A41K3110M
- Keywords:
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- 0394 Instruments and techniques;
- ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTUREDE: 3360 Remote sensing;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSESDE: 2494 Instruments and techniques;
- IONOSPHEREDE: 2794 Instruments and techniques;
- MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICS