{"project":{"acronym":"TWICE","projectId":15096,"title":"Wide-band Millimeter and Sub-Millimeter Wave Radiometer Instrument to Measure Tropospheric Water and Cloud ICE","primaryTaxonomyNodes":[{"taxonomyNodeId":10744,"taxonomyRootId":8816,"parentNodeId":10740,"level":3,"code":"TX08.1.4","title":"Microwave, Millimeter-, and Submillimeter-Waves","definition":"Microwave and radio transmitter and receiver component technologies for the 30 kHz to 10 THz range include integrated radar transmitter/ receiver (T/R) modules and integrated radiometer receivers, active microwave instruments (radar), passive radiometers (microwave and infrared), and crosscutting technologies such as radiation-hardened electronics.","exampleTechnologies":"Laser heterodyne and gas correlation radiometers, low noise receivers, transmit/receive modules, couplers/combiners, isolators, amplifiers, filters, antennas, waveguide components","hasChildren":false,"hasInteriorContent":true}],"startTrl":3,"currentTrl":3,"benefits":"Enabling lower cost innovative remote sensing instrument development from concept through breadboard and demonstration","description":"
We propose to develop, fabricate and test a new, multi-frequency millimeter and sub-millimeter-wave radiometer instrument to provide critically-needed measurements in NASA's Earth Science Focus Areas of Climate Variability & Change and Water & Energy Cycle. Specifically, the new Tropospheric Water and Cloud ICE (TWICE) instrument will address the need for measurements of water vapor and cloud ice in the upper troposphere at a variety of local times, to provide data not currently available from microwave sensors in sun-synchronous orbits. Such global measurements will enable more accurate cloud and moisture simulations in global climate models, improving both climate predictions and characterization of these models' uncertainties. Second, this capability will address the need for measurements of cloud ice particle size distribution and water content in both clean and polluted environments to investigate the effect of aerosol pollution on cloud properties and climate. This is particularly important since the uncertainty in the aerosol effect on climate is at least four times as great as the uncertainty in greenhouse gas effects. Additionally, this instrument will provide humidity and temperature profiles covering most of the troposphere in nearly all weather conditions. The TWICE radiometer instrument will advance the state of the art of sub-millimeter-wave radiometers by transitioning from Schottky mixer-based front ends to InP HEMT MMIC low-noise amplifier front ends, thereby substantially reducing the mass, volume and power consumption of space-borne radiometers. This will greatly enhance the suitability of these instruments for deployment on small satellite platforms in general, and on CubeSats in particular. The proposing team is well positioned to achieve these goals since Co-Is Drs. Deal and Kangaslahti have demonstrated world-record low-noise InP HEMT MMIC LNAs in the frequency range from 100 GHz to 670 GHz and were the first to develop a low-noise amplifier at 670 GHz. In this project, we will develop the next generation of MMIC LNAs for this frequency range. The TWICE instrument will perform water vapor and temperature sounding near multiple absorption lines from 118 to 380 GHz as well as cloud ice particle sizing at multiple window frequencies from 235 to 670 GHz. The initial technology readiness level (TRL) of the required components is 3. Over the three-year period of performance, this IIP project team will produce the TWICE instrument and demonstrate the complete system in a relevant environment, for an exit TRL of 5.
Develop, fabricate and test a wide-band millimeter and sub-millimeter wave radiometer instrument to measure Tropospheric Water and Cloud Ice Develop capability to measure upper-tropospheric water vapor, cloud ice particle size distribution and water content at a variety of local times Reduce the size, mass and power consumption of space-borne millimeter and sub-millimeter wave radiometers to enable deployment on a 6U CubeSat platform
","destinations":[{"lkuCodeId":1543,"code":"EARTH","description":"Earth","lkuCodeTypeId":526,"lkuCodeType":{"codeType":"DESTINATION_TYPE","description":"Destination Type"}}],"startYear":2014,"startMonth":6,"endYear":2017,"endMonth":5,"statusDescription":"Completed","principalInvestigators":[{"contactId":449375,"canUserEdit":false,"firstName":"Steven","lastName":"Reising","fullName":"Steven Reising","fullNameInverted":"Reising, Steven","publicEmail":false,"nacontact":false}],"programDirectors":[{"contactId":363458,"canUserEdit":false,"firstName":"Pamela","lastName":"Millar","fullName":"Pamela S Millar","fullNameInverted":"Millar, Pamela S","middleInitial":"S","primaryEmail":"pamela.s.millar@nasa.gov","publicEmail":true,"nacontact":false}],"programManagers":[{"contactId":364047,"canUserEdit":false,"firstName":"Parminder","lastName":"Ghuman","fullName":"Parminder S Ghuman","fullNameInverted":"Ghuman, Parminder S","middleInitial":"S","primaryEmail":"p.ghuman@nasa.gov","publicEmail":true,"nacontact":false}],"coInvestigators":[{"contactId":293303,"canUserEdit":false,"firstName":"Linda","lastName":"Loing","fullName":"Linda Loing","fullNameInverted":"Loing, Linda","primaryEmail":"linda.loing@colostate.edu","publicEmail":false,"nacontact":false}],"website":"","libraryItems":[{"caption":"ALHAT - ETD Autonomous Landing & Hazard Avoidance Tech Earth Science Technology Office","file":{"fileExtension":"png","fileId":5113,"fileName":"91-1373479894122","fileSize":234412,"objectId":6694,"objectType":{"lkuCodeId":889,"code":"LIBRARY_ITEMS","description":"Library Items","lkuCodeTypeId":182,"lkuCodeType":{"codeType":"OBJECT_TYPE","description":"Object Type"}},"objectTypeId":889,"fileSizeString":"228.9 KB"},"files":[{"fileExtension":"png","fileId":5113,"fileName":"91-1373479894122","fileSize":234412,"objectId":6694,"objectType":{"lkuCodeId":889,"code":"LIBRARY_ITEMS","description":"Library Items","lkuCodeTypeId":182,"lkuCodeType":{"codeType":"OBJECT_TYPE","description":"Object Type"}},"objectTypeId":889,"fileSizeString":"228.9 KB"}],"id":6694,"title":"91-1373479894122.png","description":"ALHAT - ETD Autonomous Landing & Hazard Avoidance Tech Earth Science Technology Office","libraryItemTypeId":1095,"projectId":15096,"primary":true,"publishedDateString":"","contentType":{"lkuCodeId":1095,"code":"IMAGE","description":"Image","lkuCodeTypeId":341,"lkuCodeType":{"codeType":"LIBRARY_ITEM_TYPE","description":"Library Item Type"}}}],"transitions":[],"primaryImage":{"file":{"fileExtension":"png","fileId":5113,"fileSizeString":"0 Byte"},"id":6694,"description":"ALHAT - ETD Autonomous Landing & Hazard Avoidance Tech Earth Science Technology Office","projectId":15096,"publishedDateString":""},"responsibleMd":{"acronym":"SMD","canUserEdit":false,"city":"","external":false,"linkCount":0,"organizationId":4909,"organizationName":"Science Mission Directorate","organizationType":"NASA_Mission_Directorate","naorganization":false,"organizationTypePretty":"NASA Mission Directorate"},"program":{"acronym":"IIP","active":true,"description":"Objective
New and innovative technologies will lead to flight instruments that are smaller with reduced materials, costs and build time. Furthermore, by early investment in the life cycle of an instrument and demonstrating performance, space-flight instrument builds will encounter less development risk, cost, and schedule uncertainty.
Strategy
As promising new technologies emerge from core programs in government, private industry, academic, or other non-profit organizations, proposers are encouraged to incorporate these latest developments into their instrument concepts. NRAs are expected to solicit some combination of feasibility studies; requirements analysis; design; construction of breadboards, prototypes, and engineering models; and laboratory and field demonstrations. Individual NRAs may focus on specific science questions or may address the whole science program. IIP provides a continuing source of mature instrument designs merging state-of-the-art technologies with measurement objectives available for use in the next generation of science missions.
Program Content Determined via NASA Research Announcements (NRA)
A key element of the Instrument Incubator Program's strategy is the advanced studies and ground-based demonstration phase. NRAs are released regularly to ensure that a steady stream of instrument technologies is available for future measurements. This activity will be conducted via a peer reviewed process by government, academic, and private industry research teams knowledgeable in remote-sensing and in situ measurement techniques to study global variables of the Earth system. The program encourages the use of the latest remote sensing technologies resulting from NASA's technology development programs and combining them with other government agency, academic and private industry investments to develop new instrument systems and subsystems.
ESTO's technology development approach is end-to-end: