Mobile Greenhouse Gas Flux Analyzer for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Phase I

Besides its application to NASA, a compact, ultrasensitive gas analyzer also has significant commercial application. Through a series of strategic partnerships, LGR is developing a suite of analytical sensors to measure trace gases for industrial process control monitoring and scientific instrumentation. The proposed work is essential in making these instruments more compact, rugged, and cost competitive, and will thus enlarge the potential market size significantly. The NASA Earth Science Division is primarily concerned with studying how the global environment is changing and how these changes effect human civilization. The majority of these observations involve using satellite, LIDAR data to make measurements of key atmospheric species on the planetary scale. Such observations are critical in quantifying the ozone cycle, greenhouse emissions, the hydrological cycle, and aerosol formation (and the resulting radiative forcing). In order to verify and complement these data with higher accuracy, faster time response, and better spatial resolution, NASA seeks to develop innovative in situ sensors for these important gases. Moreover, in an effort to make such in situ deployments more numerous, efficient, and cost-effective, the Earth Science Division seeks highly-accurate analyzers that can be integrated into unmanned aerial vehicles and other small aircraft to provide data for further climate modeling. More »