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Mentoring the Next Generation of Engineers and Improving Shock Testing Standards 


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The year 2023 was productive for the Loads & Dynamics (L&D) Technical Discipline Team (TDT). New shock and modal analysis techniques were developed and mentoring the next generation of NASA discipline experts continued. Additionally, NESC Technical Bulletin No. 23-3, New Transient Finite Energy Shock Prediction Methodology, was released.

Early Career Community Nurtures Development of NASA’s Future Discipline Leaders

NASA has acknowledged the need for “attracting and advancing a highly skilled, competent, and diverse workforce in order to cultivate an innovative work environment…” as stated in Objective 3.1 of the 2014 NASA Strategic Plan.

A survey conducted in 2014 by Emerge, the early-career professional group at JSC, showed that recent hires believe that “communication and collaboration amongst organizations” is a key area of improvement, while “lack of opportunities for professional growth” is the top reason why they would consider leaving the Agency. This, when coupled with NASA’s aging workforce (the average age as of 2016 was 49), stresses the importance of capturing knowledge to pass along to the next generation of NASA engineers. 

The Structures, Loads and Dynamics, Mechanical Systems, and Materials (SLAMMS) disciplines have also been identified as critical fields for the advancement of NASA’s strategic vision, which emphasizes the importance of developing and retaining engineers in those areas. Consequently, the SLAM(M)S Steering Committee (Materials was not initially included), comprising center SLAMS Division/Branch Chiefs and NASA Technical Fellows, formed the Young Professionals Forum in 2012, which evolved into the current Early Career Forum (ECF) in 2017, and was expanded to provide year-round activities (e.g., monthly meetings, training opportunities) for the Early Career Community (ECC). 

 Over the lifetime of the ECC, the SLAMS Steering Committee was dissolved, and the stewardship of the ECC relied on the Technical Fellows, who empowered ECC leaders to take on the primary responsibility of planning and running the ECC and ECF events. 

Today’s SLAMMS Early Career Community   

Within the past few years, a new SLAMMS Division/Branch Chief collaboration group was formed, called the SLAMMS Leadership Working Group (LWG), and is led by James  Loughlin, GSFC Mechanical Systems Division Chief, with co-lead Elonso Rayos, JSC Structures Engineering Assistant Division Chief. The LWG is a forum focused on capability sustainment, discipline technical challenges, and workforce concerns. For example, disparate Agency technical resource access is discussed, collaboration is coordinated, and critical gaps in expertise are filled using cross-Agency cooperation. 

The current SLAMMS ECE leadership team includes Khadijah Shariff (JSC-Structures), Dr. Matthew Chamberlain (LaRC- Loads & Dynamics), Dr. Jonathan Sauder (JPL-Mechanical Systems), and Cassie Smith (JPL-Mechanical Systems). NASA Technical Fellows supporting SLAMMS are Deneen Taylor (Structures), Dr. Dexter Johnson (Loads & Dynamics), Dr. Michael Dube (Mechanical Systems), and Dr. Bryan McEnerney (Materials).

The SLAMMS Early Career Forum

The ECF is the annual “face-to-face” workshop for the community. The ECF is held at a different NASA center each year and features technical presentations by early career engineers (ECE), splinter sessions with NASA Technical Fellows, mentor presentations, facility tours, networking events, design challenges, and evening social activities to advance the SLAMMS disciplines and develop NASA’s future workforce. The ECF features technical presentations given by the ECEs to their peers, senior engineers, and Technical Fellows.   

The 12th Annual SLAMMS ECF was held at MSFC and virtually. Sixty-six ECEs, Technical Fellows, TDT mentors, and discipline managers from the SLAMMS LWG were in attendance. ECEs from 8 centers made 16 technical presentations and 18 posters, which were ranked by mentors for the top awards. Multiple splinter sessions provided ECEs with opportunities to ask career-related advice from Technical Fellows, project and systems management, and individuals experienced in design, analysis, and testing. In addition, there was a detailed discussion for each of the technical disciplines represented at the forum, and multiple site tours were provided. 

techup2023-pg52-54-art2.png?w=2048
Attendees of the 12th annual SLAMMS EFC at MSFC 2023. 

The Future of the SLAMMS ECC 

The SLAMMS ECC will continue to evolve as discussions with the ECE leadership team and Technical Fellows continue towards mapping its future. SLAMMS is igniting cross-Agency collaboration for future generations. Its current goals include communication and collaboration among organizations, professional growth of early career engineers, knowledge capturing for the next generation of NASA engineers, and developing and retaining engineers in the specific SLAMMS disciplines. It will nurture the technical, professional, and personal development of NASA’s next generation of SLAMMS discipline leaders. 

techup2023-pg52-54-art3.png?w=2048
Awards presented by Dr. Dexter Johnson. Left: “Best Presentation” (Mitchell Haglund-GSFC) Right: “Best Poster” (Tessa Fedotowsky-MSFC).

Updating Guidance on Shock Qualification and Acceptance Test Requirements  

The L&D TDT has completed work that will have a positive impact on shock testing of NASA flight hardware. Pyroshock is the transient response of a structure to loading induced by activation of attached or incorporated pyrotechnic devices. Typical pyrotechnic devices include frangible bolts, separation nuts, and pin pullers that are used to assemble, separate, and reconfigure spaceflight hardware during a mission. Shocks can easily propagate through structure and damage sensitive components. Thus, successful pyroshock testing is considered essential to mission success. At the request of the Gateway Program Chief Engineer, the NASA Chief Engineer initiated an inquiry to reevaluate shock testing approaches for both unit and major assembly flight hardware and requested recommendations for potential revisions to NASA-STD-7003B, Pyroshock Test Criteria, that would clarify the guidance and applicability to new programs. The work delves into topics of shock acceptance and qualification testing for unit and major assemblies, shock test tolerances, shaker shock testing, and the distinction between mechanical shock and pyroshock testing. It also provides recommendations for their inclusion in the next Agency-wide revision of NASA-STD-7003B.  

Current NASA-STD-7003B Requirements 

Unit and major assembly flight hardware acceptance and qualification testing are discussed in NASA-STD-7003B. It requires that all units go through shock qualification testing, with few exceptions. The purpose of a qualification test is to verify the design integrity of the flight hardware. The standard calls for pyroshock qualification testing of nonflight hardware for externally induced environments to be performed with a 3 dB margin added to the maximum predicted environment (MPE), with two shocks per each orthogonal axis. Qualification tests are performed on hardware that will not be flown but is manufactured using the same drawings, materials, tooling, processes, inspection methods, and personnel competency as used for the flight hardware. The flight hardware is not recommended to go through shock test, therefore, it lacks workmanship screening testing. The required random vibration (RV) test is considered to be a partial workmanship screening, covering only up to 2000 Hz. A full workmanship screening test for unique and sensitive hardware that may have modes above 2000 Hz needs to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis by an expert in pyroshock dynamics and approved within a program’s risk management system and/or governing board. 

The major assembly acceptance and qualification testing are not recommended, considering that the MPE and design margin cannot be demonstrated at the system-level tests. The major assembly unmargined testing, however, may achieve three objectives. First, the functional demonstration of shock separation devices—probably the most important part of the major assembly level testing—demonstrates the source electrical and mechanical hardware functions as expected, and the interface separates without any issues. Second, the major assembly testing provides the validation of the unit shock environments.  

Third, the major assembly testing provides transfer functions (TF) that may help to estimate the attenuation—and in some cases structural amplifications—throughout the system with all assemblies in flight configuration. NASA-STD-7003B contains discussions for the first two major assembly test objectives. However, there are no discussions on the third test objective related to the TFs. The TFs provide qualitative assessment of shock propagation paths and attenuations at joints and interfaces. The TFs may be used qualitatively as attenuation is highly dependent on the materials and joint construction and may be different if there are changes in the system configuration.  

Suggestions for Improving NASA-STD-7003B 

The shock tolerance specified in NASA-STD-7003B is ±6 dB from 100 Hz to 3 kHz and +9/-6 dB above 3 kHz. The constant ±6 dB tolerance bandwidths across all frequencies are possible, as many existing shock simulation systems are able to simulate shock signatures that fall within these tolerances without difficulty. These tolerances are based on practical test implementation and shock simulation equipment consideration. The tolerance tightening should be considered at the flight hardware resonant frequencies to avoid over/under testing. However, if detonator or explosive shock simulation systems are used to qualify flight hardware, the shock tolerances above 3 kHz may be kept at +9/-6 dB.  

Measurements from many different pyro/non-pyro separation systems have been shown to have broader shock signatures and do not support the mechanical shock as being applicable to low- and mid-frequency shocks only. The standard discusses this topic and has an example of far field SRS indicating shock energy above 2 kHz. The future revision should clarify the applicability of the mechanical shocks to be broader and not to be limited to 2 kHz and below (see figure below). 

techup2023-pg52-54-art4.png?w=2010
 
An example shock response spectrum (SRS) obtained from a mechanical shock separation system, indicating a broad signature is produced by pyro devices.   
techup2023-pg52-54-art5.png?w=1920
The Gateway Program has benefitted from the updated guidance recommended for NASA-STD-7003B. 

Even though shaker shock testing has been used in the past and is still used by some NASA organizations and contractors, there are multiple technical issues with this type of testing. The shaker-generated shock signatures in the low- and mid-frequency range (typically up to ~2 kHz) provide severe shock environments that may lead to structural failures. Most shakers are also not able to generate SRS above ~2 kHz, therefore, shaker shock test is deficient in meeting the shock requirement up to 10 kHz frequency. NASA-STD-7003B does not recommend the shaker method of shock testing due to the above limitations. This should be emphasized more in the standard. The shaker shock simulation test may be used if it is able to generate time histories that resemble signatures generated by space separation devices, and SRS levels meet the entire frequency range requirements. 

For the next NASA-STD-7003B revision, recommendations are being made to include acceptance RV testing for partial workmanship screening testing, add the TFs to be used as qualitative information in assessing the attenuation in the structural shock paths, change the shock tolerance to ±6 dB across all frequencies, and consider mechanical shocks to be broader and not limited to low- and mid-frequency SRSs. 

In summary, the updated guidance provides clarification to the question/uncertainty of the applicability of historical guidance to current programs, while ensuring proper applicability to future programs. This work directly benefitted the Gateway Program, and could potentially benefit the Human Lander System (HLS). 

References: 

  1. Kolaini, A.R., Kinney, T., and Johnson, D.: Guidance on Shock Qualification and Acceptance Test Requirements. SCLV, June 27-29, 2023, EL Segundo, CA. Available from: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20230009008  
  1. NASA-STD-7003B, “Pyroshock Test Criteria,” June 11, 2020. 

techup2023-pg52-54-art6.png?w=985
HLS could benefit from the updated guidance recommended for NASA-STD-7003B. Credit: Blue Origin 

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      Also on Friday evening, the waning Moon will appear half-full as it reaches its last quarter at 8:28 PM EST (when we can’t see it).
      Friday night into Saturday morning, November 22 to 23, the bright star Regulus will appear near the waning half-Moon. As Regulus rises on the east-northeastern horizon (at 11:29 PM EST) it will be 9 degrees below the Moon, with Mars farther to the upper right and Pollux beyond Mars. By the time the Moon reaches its highest for the night (at 5:49 AM) Regulus will be 7 degrees to the lower left, and morning twilight will begin 8 minutes later (at 5:57 AM).
      Saturday night into Sunday morning, November 23 to 24, the waning crescent Moon will have shifted to the other side of Regulus. When the Moon rises on the east-northeastern horizon (at 11:38 PM EST) Regulus will be 4 degrees to the upper right of the Moon. The pair will separate as the night progresses. By the time morning twilight begins (at 5:58 AM) Regulus will be 6.5 degrees to the upper right of the Moon.
      Sunday evening, November 24, will be the last evening the planet Mercury will be above the west-southwestern horizon as evening twilight ends, although it should remain visible in the glow of dusk before twilight ends for a few more evenings as it dims and shifts towards its passage between the Earth and the Sun on December 5.
      Tuesday morning, November 26, at 6:57 AM EST, the Moon will be at apogee, its farthest from the Earth for this orbit.
      On Wednesday morning, November 27, the bright star Spica will appear near the waning crescent Moon. As Spica rises on the east-southeastern horizon (at 3:41 AM EST) it will be a degree below the Moon. As morning progresses the Moon will shift towards Spica, and for much of the Eastern USA and Canada the Moon will block Spica from view. See http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/bstar/1127zc1925.htm for a map and information on the areas that will be able to see this eclipse. Times will vary by location, but for the Washington, DC area, Spica will vanish behind the illuminated limb of the Moon at 5:34 AM and the Moon will still be blocking Spica from sight as morning twilight begins at 6:02 AM.
      Early Sunday morning, December 1, at 1:22 AM EST, will be the new Moon, when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from the Earth.
      The day of or the day after the New Moon marks the start of the new month for most moon-based calendars. The eleventh month of the Chinese year of the Dragon starts on Sunday, December 1. Sundown on Sunday, December 1, marks the start of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar. Hanukkah will begin towards the end of Kislev. In the Islamic calendar the months traditionally start with the first sighting of the waxing crescent Moon. Many Muslim communities now follow the Umm al-Qura Calendar of Saudi Arabia, which uses astronomical calculations to start months in a more predictable way. Using this calendar, sundown on Sunday, December 1, will probably mark the beginning of Jumādā ath-Thāniyah, also known as Jumādā al-ʾĀkhirah.
      Wednesday evening, December 4, the bright planet Venus will appear 3 degrees to the upper right of the waxing crescent Moon. The Moon will be 15 degrees above the southwestern horizon as evening twilight ends (at 5:49 PM EST). The Moon will set 2 hours later (at 7:46 PM).
      Thursday evening, December 5, the planet Mercury will be passing between the Earth and the Sun as seen from the Earth, called inferior conjunction. Planets that orbit inside of the orbit of Earth can have two types of conjunctions with the Sun, inferior (when passing between the Earth and the Sun) and superior (when passing on the far side of the Sun as seen from the Earth). Mercury will be shifting from the evening sky to the morning sky and will begin emerging from the glow of dawn on the eastern horizon in less than a week.
      Saturday afternoon, December 7, the planet Jupiter will be at its closest and brightest for the year, called “opposition” because it will be opposite the Earth from the Sun, effectively a “full” Jupiter. Jupiter will be 12 degrees above the east-northeastern horizon as evening twilight ends (at 5:49 PM EST), will reach its highest in the sky right around midnight (11:59 PM), and will be 11 degrees above the west-northwestern horizon as morning twilight begins (Sunday morning at 6:11 AM). Only planets that orbit farther from the Sun than the Earth can be seen at opposition.
      Saturday evening, December 7, the planet Saturn will appear to the upper left of the waxing crescent Moon. They will be 6 degrees apart as evening twilight ends (at 5:49 PM EST). Saturn will appear to shift clockwise and closer to the Moon, so that by the time the Moon sets 5.5 hours later (at 11:18 PM) Saturn will be 3.5 degrees above the Moon on the west-southwestern horizon. For a swath in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Asia the Moon will actually block Saturn from view, see http://lunar-occultations.com/iota/planets/1208saturn.htm for a map and information on the locations that can see this eclipse.
      Sunday morning, December 8, the Moon will appear half-full as it reaches its first quarter at 10:27 AM EST (when we can’t see it).
      Thursday morning, December 12, will be the first morning the planet Mercury will be above the east-southeastern horizon as morning twilight begins (at 6:14 AM EST).
      Thursday morning, December 12, at 8:18 AM EST, the Moon will be at perigee, its closest to the Earth for this orbit.
      Friday evening into Saturday morning, December 13 to 14, the Pleiades star cluster will appear near the full Moon. This may best be viewed with binoculars, as the brightness of the full Moon may make it hard to see the stars in this star cluster. As evening twilight ends (at 5:50 PM EST), the Pleiades will appear 4 degrees to the upper right of the full Moon. By the time the Moon reaches its highest for the night (at 10:49 PM), the Pleiades will be 6 degrees to the right. By about 2 AM the Pleiades will be 8 degrees to the lower right of the Moon and they will continue to separate as the morning progresses.
      As mentioned above, one of the three major meteor showers of the year, the Geminids (004 GEM), will peak Saturday morning, December 14. The light of the nearly full Moon will interfere. In a good year, this shower can produce 150 visible meteors per hour under ideal conditions, but this will not be a good year. For the Washington, DC area the MeteorActive app predicts that at about 2 AM EST on the morning of December 14, under bright suburban sky conditions, the peak rate from the Geminids and all other background sources might reach 20 meteors per hour. See the meteor summary above for suggestions for meteor viewing.
      Saturday morning, December 14, the full Moon, the bright planet Jupiter, and the bright star Aldebaran will form a triangle. As Aldebaran sets on the west-northwestern horizon (at 6:10 AM EST) it will be 9 degrees to the lower left of the Moon with Jupiter 7 degrees to the upper left of the Moon. Morning twilight will begin 6 minutes later.
      Saturday evening, December 15, the full Moon will have shifted to the other side of Jupiter. Jupiter will be 6 degrees to the right of the Moon as evening twilight ends (at 5:50 PM EST) and the pair will separate as the night progresses.  
      The full Moon after next will be Sunday morning, December 15, 2024, at 4:02 AM EST. This will be Saturday evening from Alaska Time westwards to the International Date Line. The Moon will appear full for about 3 days around this time, from Friday evening through Monday morning, making this a full Moon weekend.
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    • By NASA
      Teams with NASA and Lockheed Martin prepare to conduct testing on NASA’s Orion spacecraft on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, in the altitude chamber inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Lockheed Martin/David Wellendorf Teams lifted NASA’s Orion spacecraft for the Artemis II test flight out of the Final Assembly and System Testing cell and moved it to the altitude chamber to complete further testing on Nov. 6 inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
      Engineers returned the spacecraft to the altitude chamber, which simulates deep space vacuum conditions, to complete the remaining test requirements and provide additional data to augment data gained during testing earlier this summer.
      The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under the Artemis campaign, sending NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Reid Wiseman, as well as CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back.
      Image credit: Lockheed Martin/David Wellendorf
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      NASA/Carla Thomas NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft sits in its run stall at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, in this image from Oct. 30, 2024.
      The engine-run tests, which began Oct. 30, allow the X-59 team to verify the aircraft’s systems are working together while powered by its own engine. In previous tests, the X-59 used external sources for power. The engine-run tests set the stage for the next phase of the experimental aircraft’s progress toward flight.
      After the engine runs, the X-59 team will move to aluminum bird testing, where data will be fed to the aircraft under both normal and failure conditions. The team will then proceed with a series of taxi tests, where the aircraft will be put in motion on the ground. These tests will be followed by final preparations for first flight.
      Image credit: NASA/Carla Thomas
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      Flight operations engineer Carissa Arillo helped ensure one of the instruments on NASA’s PACE mission made it successfully through its prelaunch testing. She and her group also documented the work rigorously, to ensure the flight team had a comprehensive manual to keep this Earth-observing satellite in good health for the duration of its mission.
      Carissa M. Arillo is a flight operations engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Photo courtesy of Carissa Arillo Name: Carissa M. Arillo
      Formal Job Classification: Flight Operations Engineer
      Organization: Environmental Test Engineering and Integration Branch (Code 549)
      What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard?
      I developed pre-launch test procedures for the HARP-2 instrument for the Phytoplankton, Aerosol, Cloud and Ecosystem (PACE) Mission. HARP-2 is a wide angle imaging polarimeter designed to measure aerosol particles and clouds, as well as properties of land and water surfaces.
      I also developed the flight operations routine and contingency procedures that governed the spacecraft after launch. It is interesting to think about how to design procedures that can sustain the observatory in space for the life of the mission so that the flight operations team that inherits the mission will have a seamless transition.
      What is your educational background?
      In 2019, I got a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. I am currently pursuing a master’s in robotics there as well.
      Why did you become an engineer?
      I like putting things together and understanding how they work. After starting my job at NASA Goddard, I became interested in coding and robotics.
      How did you come to Goddard?
      After getting my undergraduate degree, I worked at General Electric Aviation doing operations management for manufacturing aircraft engines. When I heard about an opening at Goddard, I applied and got my current position.
      What was involved in developing pre-launch test procedures for the HARP-2 instrument?
      I talked to the instrument manufacturer, which is a team from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and asked them what they wanted to confirm works every time we tested the instrument. We kept in constant communication while developing these test procedures to make sure we covered everything. The end product was code that was part of the comprehensive performance tests, the baseline tests throughout the prelaunch test campaign. Before, during, and after each prelaunch environmental test, we perform such a campaign. These prelaunch environmental tests include vibration, thermal (hot and cold), acoustic and radio frequency compatibility (making sure that different subsystems do not interfere with each other’s).
      What goes through your head in developing a flight operations procedure for an instrument?
      I think about a safe way of operating the instrument to accomplish the goals of the science team. I also think about not being able to constantly monitor the instrument. Every few hours, we can communicate with the instrument for about five to 10 minutes. We can, however, recover all the telemetry for the off-line time.
      When we discover an anomaly, we look at all the history that we have and consult with our contingency procedures, our failure review board and potentially the instrument manufacturer. Together we try to figure out a recovery.
      When developing a fight operations procedure, we must think of all possible scenarios. Our end product is a written book of procedures that lives with the mission and is updated as needed.
      New cars come with an owner’s manual. We create the same sort of manual for the new instrument.
      As a Flight Operations Team member, what else do you do?
      The flight operations team runs the Mission Operations Center — the “MOC” — for PACE. That is where we command the spacecraft for the life of the mission. My specialty is the HARP-2 instrument, but I still do many supporting functions for the MOC. For example, I helped develop procedures to automate ground station contacts to PACE. These ground stations are positioned all over the world and enable us to talk with the spacecraft during those five to 10 minutes of communication. This automation includes the standard things we do every time we talk to the spacecraft whether or not someone is in the MOC.
      Carissa developed pre-launch test procedures for the HARP-2 instrument for the Phytoplankton, Aerosol, Cloud and Ecosystem (PACE) Mission. HARP-2 is a wide angle imaging polarimeter designed to measure aerosol particles and clouds, as well as properties of land and water surfaces.NASA/Dennis Henry How does it feel to be working on such an amazing mission so early in your career?
      It is awesome, I feel very lucky to be in my position. Everything is new to me. At times it is difficult to understand where the ship is going. I rely on my experienced team members to guide me and my robotics curriculum in school to equip me with skills.
      I have learned a lot from both the flight operations team and the integration and test team. The flight operations team has years of experience building MOCs that serve the needs of each unique mission. The integration and test team also has a lot of experience developing observatory functional procedures. I wish to thank both teams for taking me under their wings and educating me on the fly to support the prelaunch, launch and post-launch campaigns. I am very grateful to everyone for giving me this unbelievable opportunity.
      Who is your engineering hero?
      I don’t have one hero in particular but I love biographical movies that tell stories about influential people’s lives, such as the movie “Hidden Figures” that details the great endeavors and accomplishments of three female African-American mathematicians at NASA.
      What do you do for fun?
      I love to go to the beach and spend time with family and friends.
      Who is your favorite author?
      I like Kristen Hannah’s storytelling abilities.
      What do you hope to be doing in five years?
      I hope to be working on another exciting mission at Goddard that will bring us never-before-seen science.
      By Elizabeth M. Jarrell
      NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
      Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage.
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      Last Updated Oct 29, 2024 EditorMadison OlsonContactRob Garnerrob.garner@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
      Goddard Space Flight Center PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem) People of Goddard People of NASA View the full article
    • By NASA
      The Rocky Mountains in Colorado, as seen from the International Space Station. Snowmelt from the mountainous western United States is an essential natural resource, making up as much as 75% of some states’ annual freshwater supply. Summer heat has significant effects in the mountainous regions of the western United States. Melted snow washes from snowy peaks into the rivers, reservoirs, and streams that supply millions of Americans with freshwater—as much as 75% of the annual freshwater supply for some states.
      But as climate change brings winter temperatures to new highs, these summer rushes of freshwater can sometimes slow to a trickle.
      “The runoff supports cities most people wouldn’t expect,” explained Chris Derksen, a glaciologist and Research Scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada. “Big cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles get water from snowmelt.”
      To forecast snowmelt with greater accuracy, NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) and a team of researchers from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, are developing SNOWWI, a dual-frequency synthetic aperture radar that could one day be the cornerstone of future missions dedicated to measuring snow mass on a global scale – something the science community lacks.
      SNOWWI aims to fill this technology gap. In January and March 2024, the SNOWWI research team passed a key milestone, flying their prototype for the first time aboard a small, twin-engine aircraft in Grand Mesa, Colorado, and gathering useful data on the area’s winter snowfields.
      “I’d say the big development is that we’ve gone from pieces of hardware in a lab to something that makes meaningful data,” explained Paul Siqueira, professor of engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and principal investigator for SNOWWI.
      SNOWWI stands for Snow Water-equivalent Wide Swath Interferometer and Scatterometer. The instrument probes snowpack with two Ku-band radar signals: a high-frequency signal that interacts with individual snow grains, and a low-frequency signal that passes through the snowpack to the ground. 
      The high-frequency signal gives researchers a clear look at the consistency of the snowpack, while the low-frequency signal helps researchers determine its total depth.
      “Having two frequencies allows us to better separate the influence of the snow microstructure from the influence of the snow depth,” said Derksen, who participated in the Grand Mesa field campaign. “One frequency is good, two frequencies are better.”

      The SNOWWI team in Grand Mesa, preparing to flight test their instrument. From an altitude of 4 kilometers (2.5 miles), SNOWWI can map 100 square kilometers (about 38 square miles) in just 30 minutes.
      As both of those scattered signals interact with the snowpack and bounce back towards the instrument, they lose energy. SNOWWI measures that lost energy, and researchers later correlate those losses to features within the snowpack, especially its depth, density, and mass.
      From an airborne platform with an altitude of 2.5 miles (4 kilometers), SNOWWI could map 40 square miles (100 square kilometers) of snowy terrain in just 30 minutes. From space, SNOWWI’s coverage would be even greater. Siqueira is working with Capella Space to develop a space-ready SNOWWI for satellite missions.
      But there’s still much work to be done before SNOWWI visits space. Siqueira plans to lead another field campaign, this time in the mountains of Idaho. Grand Mesa is relatively flat, and Siqueira wants to see how well SNOWWI can measure snowpack tucked in the folds of complex, asymmetrical terrain.
      For Derksen, who spends much of his time quantifying the freshwater content of snowpack in Canada, having a reliable database of global snowpack measurements would be game-changing.
      “Snowmelt is money. It has intrinsic economic value,” he said. “If you want your salmon to run in mountain streams in the spring, you must have snowmelt. But unlike other natural resources, at this time, we really can’t monitor it very well.”
      For information about opportunities to collaborate with NASA on novel, Earth-observing instruments, see ESTO’s catalog of open solicitations with its Instrument Incubator Program here.
      Project Leads: Dr. Paul Siqueira, University of Massachusetts (Principal Investigator); Hans-Peter Marshall, University of Idaho (Co-Investigator)
      Sponsoring Organizations: NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO), Instrument Incubator Program (IIP)
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