Mr. Steven P. Neeck Profile

Steven P. Neeck

Deputy Associate Director, Flight Programs

SPIE Involvement:

Editor | Author

Publications (42)

Proceedings Article | 20 September 2020 Presentation

Status of the NASA Earth science flight program

Steven Neeck

Proceedings Volume 11530, 115300K (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2575891

KEYWORDS: Earth sciences, Planets, Earth's atmosphere, Climatology, Satellites, Atmospheric sciences, Space operations, Imaging systems, Planetary systems, Ecosystems

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NASA’s Earth Science Division (ESD) unlocks the mysteries of our planet, exploring, discovering, and responding to the need to understand our planet’s interconnected systems, from a global scale to minute processes. This knowledge and understanding serves the fundamental need to improve our lives on Earth, advancing this frontier for all humanity. NASA pursues both curiosity-driven and practically focused Earth science because our ability to thrive on our home planet is undeniably tied to our scientific understanding and predictive capability of its dynamics and phenomena. ESD explores our rapidly changing world, where natural and human factors interact, following an interdisciplinary, Earth systems approach that examines the interplay among the atmospheric, ocean, land, and ice systems. Using the recommendations of the 2017 NASA Earth Science Decadal Survey, Thriving on Our Changing Planet a Decadal Strategy for Earth Observation from Space, as a compass, ESD is developing the observing systems that will answer the most important science and application questions of the next decade across the following focus areas: • Coupling of the water and energy cycles • Ecosystem change • Extending and improving weather and air quality forecasts • Reducing climate uncertainty and informing societal response • Sea-level rise • Surface dynamics, geological hazards and disasters The ESD Flight Program develops and operates the observing systems required to address these focus areas. It consists of a coordinated series of satellite and airborne missions for long-term global observations of the land surface, biosphere, solid Earth, atmosphere, and oceans. The Flight Program also encompasses infrastructure for operating these missions, processing their scientific data, and distributing them on a free and open basis to researchers, operational users, and the public. The Flight Program currently has 24 operating Earth observing space missions and instruments. There are 18 more missions and instruments in development. These comprise missions recommended by the 2017 NASA Earth Science Decadal Survey, missions and selected instruments to ensure availability of key climate data sets, operational missions to sustain land imaging provided by the Landsat system, and small-sized competitively selected orbital and instrument missions of opportunity belonging to the Earth Venture (EV) program. Projects in development include the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich/-B dual satellite altimetry mission; with its first launch scheduled for November 2020 and the recently selected Libera Earth radiation budget (ERB) instrument planned to be hosted on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Joint Polar Satellite System-3 (JPSS-3) spacecraft. Libera is the first of the new Earth Venture Continuity class of missions promoting innovative, capable approaches to acquiring existing Climate Data Record (CDR) measurement sets at lower cost. The 2017 Earth Science Decadal Survey recommended four new Flight Program elements (Designated, Explorer, and Incubation Targeted Observables) in addition to the legacy missions that comprise the Program of Record (POR). Multi-Center architecture studies for the Designated Targeted Observables and plans to address the other new Flight Program elements are underway. An overview of Flight Program plans and current status will be presented.

Proceedings Article | 20 September 2020 Presentation

Opening remarks by conference chairs for conference on sensors, systems, and next generation satellites XXIV

Steven Neeck, Arnaud Hélière, Toshiyoshi Kimura

Proceedings Volume 11530, 1153004 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2584102

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Proceedings Article | 18 October 2019 Presentation

The NASA Earth Science Flight Program: an update (Conference Presentation)

Steven Neeck

Proceedings Volume 11151, 1115108 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2536702

KEYWORDS: Earth sciences, Climatology, Space operations, Imaging systems, Climate change, Satellites, Earth observing sensors, Landsat, Ecosystems, Carbon

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NASA’s Earth Science Division (ESD) advances our scientific understanding of the Earth as a system and its response to natural and human-induced changes in order to improve our ability to predict climate, weather, and natural hazards, and to meet the challenges of environmental change. Our planet is changing on all spatial and temporal scales and studying the Earth as a complex system is essential to understanding the causes and consequences of global to local environmental changes. ESD addresses the issues and opportunities of environmental changes and climate risks by answering the following key science questions through its program elements: • How is the global Earth system changing? • What causes these changes in the Earth system? • How will the Earth system change in the future? • How can Earth system science provide societal benefit? One of the key elements ESD uses to address these science questions is the Flight Program. Its Flight Program consists of a coordinated series of satellite and airborne missions for long-term global observations of the land surface, biosphere, solid Earth, atmosphere, and oceans. The Flight Program also includes infrastructure for operating these missions, processing their scientific data, and distributing them on a free and open basis to researchers, operational users, and the public. The Flight Program currently has 25 operating Earth observing space missions. There are 16 more missions and instruments planned for launch over the next five years. These comprise missions recommended by the National Academies 2017 Earth Science Decadal Survey, missions and selected instruments to ensure availability of key climate data sets, operational missions to sustain land imaging provided by the Landsat system, and small-sized competitively selected orbital and instrument missions of opportunity belonging to the Earth Venture (EV) program. Recently launched missions include the ICESat-2 spacecraft and two International Space Station (ISS) hosted instruments, the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) LIDAR and the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) spectrometer. Projects in development include the Sentinel-6A/B dual satellite altimetry mission; Landsat 9; the Pre-Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission; the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR); the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission; Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO); the Timed-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) CubeSat constellation mission; the Multi-angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) pollution monitoring instrument; the Geostationary Carbon Cycle Observatory (GeoCARB); the Earth surface Mineral dust source InvesTigation (EMIT) spectrometer hosted on ISS; and the Polar Radiant Energy in the Far InfraRed Experiment (PREFIRE) CubeSat constellation mission. The 2017 Earth Science Decadal Survey recommends four new Flight Program elements (Designated, Explorer, and Incubation Targeted Observables) in addition to the above activities that comprise the Program of Record (POR). Multi-Center architecture studies for the Designated Targeted Observables and plans to address the other Flight Program elements are underway. An overview of Flight Program plans and current status will be presented.

Proceedings Article | 12 July 2019 Open Access

Optics in NASA’s Earth Science Program

Steven Neeck

Proceedings Volume 11180, 111801I (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2535973

KEYWORDS: Earth sciences, Astronomical imaging

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Proceedings Article | 12 October 2015 Paper

The NASA Earth Science Flight Program: an update

Steven Neeck

Proceedings Volume 9639, 963907 (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2199919

KEYWORDS: Earth observing sensors, Earth sciences, Climatology, Space operations, Satellites, Climate change, Environmental sensing, Neodymium, Landsat, Ecosystems

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Earth’s changing environment impacts every aspect of life on our planet and climate change has profound implications on society. Studying Earth as a single complex system is essential to understanding the causes and consequences of climate change and other global environmental concerns. NASA’s Earth Science Division (ESD) shapes an interdisciplinary view of Earth, exploring interactions among the atmosphere, oceans, ice sheets, land surface interior, and life itself. This enables scientists to measure global and climate changes and to inform decisions by government, other organizations, and people in the United States and around the world. The data collected and results generated are accessible to other agencies and organizations to improve the products and services they provide, including air quality indices, disaster prediction and response, agricultural yield projections, and aviation safety. ESD’s Flight Program provides the space based observing systems and infrastructure for mission operations and scientific data processing and distribution that support NASA’s Earth science research and modeling activities. The Flight Program currently has 21 operating Earth observing space missions, including the recently launched Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2), the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, and the International Space Station (ISS) RapidSCAT and Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) instruments. The ESD has 22 more missions and instruments planned for launch over the next decade. These include first and second tier missions from the 2007 Earth Science Decadal Survey, Climate Continuity missions and selected instruments to assure availability of key climate data sets, operational missions to ensure sustained land imaging provided by the Landsat system, and small-sized competitively selected orbital missions and instrument missions of opportunity belonging to the Earth Venture (EV) Program. Some examples are the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT), ICESat-2, SAGE III on ISS, Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow On (GRACE FO), Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO), Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS), ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS), and Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) Lidar missions. An overview of plans and current status will be presented.

Proceedings Article | 28 October 2014 Paper

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) launch, commissioning, and early operations

Steven Neeck, Ramesh Kakar, Ardeshir Azarbarzin, Arthur Hou

Proceedings Volume 9241, 924104 (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2069868

KEYWORDS: Observatories, Radar, Satellites, Space operations, Meteorology, Microwave radiation, Data modeling, Clouds, Aerospace engineering, Sensors

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The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is an international partnership co-led by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The mission centers on the GPM Core Observatory and consists of an international network, or constellation, of additional satellites that together will provide next-generation global observations of precipitation from space. The GPM constellation will provide measurements of the intensity and variability of precipitation, three-dimensional structure of cloud and storm systems, the microphysics of ice and liquid particles within clouds, and the amount of water falling to Earth’s surface. Observations from the GPM constellation, combined with land surface data, will improve weather forecast models; climate models; integrated hydrologic models of watersheds; and forecasts of hurricanes/typhoons/cylcones, landslides, floods and droughts. The GPM Core Observatory carries an advanced radar/radiometer system and serves as a reference standard to unify precipitation measurements from all satellites that fly within the constellation. The GPM Core Observatory improves upon the capabilities of its predecessor, the NASA-JAXA Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), with advanced science instruments and expanded coverage of Earth’s surface. The GPM Core Observatory carries two instruments, the NASA-supplied GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and the JAXA-supplied Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR). The GMI measures the amount, size, intensity and type of precipitation, from heavy-tomoderate rain to light rain and snowfall. The DPR provides three-dimensional profiles and intensities of liquid and solid precipitation. The French Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), and the U.S. Department of Defense are partners with NASA and JAXA. The GPM Core Observatory was launched from JAXA’s Tanegashima Space Center on an H-IIA launch vehicle on February 28, 2014 Japan Standard Time (JST). The mission has completed its checkout and commissioning phase and is in Operations Phase. The current status and early results will be discussed.

Proceedings Article | 21 October 2014 Paper

The NASA Earth Science Flight Program

Steven Neeck, Stephen Volz

Proceedings Volume 9241, 924103 (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2069866

KEYWORDS: Earth sciences, Climatology, Satellites, Climate change, Neodymium, Space operations, Environmental sensing, Carbon, Radar, Planets

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Proceedings Article | 16 October 2013 Paper

NASA Earth science missions

Steven Neeck, Stephen Volz

Proceedings Volume 8889, 88890C (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2031425

KEYWORDS: Earth sciences, Climatology, Satellites, Space operations, Environmental sensing, Climate change, Earth observing sensors, Data modeling, Carbon, Landsat

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NASA’s Earth Science Division (ESD) conducts pioneering work in Earth system science, the interdisciplinary view of Earth that explores the interaction among the atmosphere, oceans, ice sheets, land surface interior, and life itself that has enabled scientists to measure global and climate changes and to inform decisions by governments, organizations, and people in the United States and around the world. The ESD makes the data collected and results generated by its space missions accessible to other agencies and organizations to improve the products and services they provide, including air quality indices, disaster management, agricultural yield projections, and aviation safety. Through partnerships with national and international agencies, NASA enables the application of this understanding. The ESD’s Flight Program provides the spacebased observing systems and supporting ground segment infrastructure for mission operations and scientific data processing and distribution that support NASA’s Earth system science research and modeling activities. The Flight Program currently has 15 operating Earth observing space missions, including the recently launched Landsat-8/Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM). The ESD has 16 more missions planned for launch over the next decade. These include first and second tier missions from the 2007 Earth Science Decadal Survey, Climate Continuity missions to assure availability of key data sets needed for climate science and applications, and small-sized competitively selected orbital missions and instrument missions of opportunity utilizing rideshares that are part of the Earth Venture (EV) Program. The recently selected Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) microsatellite constellation and the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) instrument are examples. In addition, the International Space Station (ISS) is being increasingly used to host NASA Earth observing science instruments. An overview of plans and current status will be presented.

Proceedings Article | 16 October 2013 Paper

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) L-6

Steven Neeck, Ramesh Kakar, Ardeshir Azarbarzin, Arthur Hou

Proceedings Volume 8889, 88890D (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2031431

KEYWORDS: Observatories, Satellites, Microwave radiation, Radar, Radiometry, Meteorological satellites, Meteorology, Space operations, Spatial resolution, Calibration

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Proceedings Article | 19 November 2012 Paper

Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission

Steven Neeck, Eric Lindstrom, Parag Vaze, Lee-Lueng Fu

Proceedings Volume 8533, 85330G (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.981151

KEYWORDS: Space operations, Radar, Neodymium, Hydrology, Antennas, Ka band, Receivers, Spatial resolution, Global Positioning System, Radiometry

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Proceedings Article | 19 November 2012 Paper

NASA Earth Science Flight Program

Steven Neeck, Stephen Volz

Proceedings Volume 8533, 85330E (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.981149

KEYWORDS: Satellites, Earth sciences, Climatology, Space operations, Environmental sensing, Observatories, Earth's atmosphere, Climate change, Atmospheric sciences, Carbon

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Proceedings Article | 19 November 2012 Paper

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) L-18

Steven Neeck, Ramesh Kakar, Ardeshir Azarbarzin, Arthur Hou

Proceedings Volume 8533, 85330F (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.981150

KEYWORDS: Observatories, Satellites, Space operations, Microwave radiation, Radar, Radiometry, Meteorological satellites, Calibration, Meteorology, Data centers

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Proceedings Article | 12 October 2011 Paper

NASA's Earth Science Flight Program overview

Steven Neeck, Stephen Volz

Proceedings Volume 8176, 817602 (2011) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.899369

KEYWORDS: Climatology, Earth sciences, Satellites, Space operations, Climate change, Environmental sensing, Carbon, Earth's atmosphere, Observatories, Meteorological satellites

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Proceedings Article | 13 October 2010 Paper

The Jason-3 Mission: completing the transition of ocean altimetry from research to operations

Parag Vaze, Steven Neeck, Walid Bannoura, Joseph Green, Angelo Wade, Michael Mignogno, Gerard Zaouche, Veronique Couderc, Eric Thouvenot, Francois Parisot

Proceedings Volume 7826, 78260Y (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.868543

KEYWORDS: Satellites, Global Positioning System, Lead, Microwave radiation, Radiometry, Doppler effect, Retroreflectors, Data modeling, Space operations, Meteorological satellites

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The Jason-3 mission is planned as a follow-on mission to the Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason-2, to continue the core satellite altimetry measurements for physical oceanography. In addition, a key long-term vision of the founders of this measurement will come to reality: the transitioning from research to operational applications of this valuable measurement. Jason-3 builds upon the heritage of foundational and transitional missions such as SEASAT (1978), GEOSAT (1985), TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P, 1992), Jason-1 (2001) and OSTM/Jason-2 (2008), which have led to the understanding and development of a wide range of oceanographic applications of satellite altimetry. With the successful development and operation of the TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason-1 missions, the Franco-American cooperation in ocean altimetry has grown with a steady vision of expanding this measurement towards operational applications. As such, the T/P and Jason-1 missions were developed by NASA and CNES, and subsequently NOAA and EUMETSAT have taken on key partnership roles by providing mission operations services for the OSTM/Jason-2 project. For Jason-3, NOAA and EUMETSAT are the lead agencies with CNES and NASA as key partners providing mission development support. With a planned project start in early 2010 and a launch target of mid-2013, Jason-3 is planned as a recurring mission from OSTM/Jason-2 to minimize satellite development risk as well as to ensure the continuity of measurements after OSTM/Jason-2. The Jason-3 satellite is planned to operate at the same 1336 km, 66 deg. inclination reference orbit with essentially the same on-board instrumentation as OSTM/Jason-2. The instrument suite will consist of a dual-frequency Nadir Altimeter, a Microwave Radiometer, and three Precision Orbit Determination instruments (Global Positioning System - GPS, Doppler Orbitography and Radio-positioning Integrated by Satellite -DORIS, and Laser Retroreflector Array - LRA). Fulfilling the goals of moving satellite altimetry onto routine operations will require a close cooperation and coordination of international, multi-agency mission managers, designers, engineers, scientists and operational systems developers. This paper presents the Jason-3 mission formulation and development plans, and highlights the key aspects of making this multidimensional project move towards reality.

Proceedings Article | 13 October 2010 Paper

NASA's Earth science flight program status

Steven Neeck, Stephen Volz

Proceedings Volume 7826, 78260T (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.865764

KEYWORDS: Earth sciences, Climatology, Satellites, Environmental sensing, Climate change, Carbon dioxide, Earth's atmosphere, Carbon, Space operations, Atmospheric sciences

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NASA's strategic goal to "advance scientific understanding of the changing Earth system to meet societal needs" continues the agency's legacy of expanding human knowledge of the Earth through space activities, as mandated by the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958. Over the past 50 years, NASA has been the world leader in developing space-based Earth observing systems and capabilities that have fundamentally changed our view of our planet and have defined Earth system science. The U.S. National Research Council report "Earth Observations from Space: The First 50 Years of Scientific Achievements" published in 2008 by the National Academy of Sciences articulates those key achievements and the evolution of the space observing capabilities, looking forward to growing potential to address Earth science questions and enable an abundance of practical applications. NASA's Earth science program is an end-to-end one that encompasses the development of observational techniques and the instrument technology needed to implement them. This includes laboratory testing and demonstration from surface, airborne, or space-based platforms; research to increase basic process knowledge; incorporation of results into complex computational models to more fully characterize the present state and future evolution of the Earth system; and development of partnerships with national and international organizations that can use the generated information in environmental forecasting and in policy, business, and management decisions. Currently, NASA's Earth Science Division (ESD) has 14 operating Earth science space missions with 6 in development and 18 under study or in technology risk reduction. Two Tier 2 Decadal Survey climate-focused missions, Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days and Seasons (ASCENDS) and Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT), have been identified in conjunction with the U.S. Global Change Research Program and initiated for launch in the 2019-2020 timeframe. NASA will begin refurbishment of the SAGE III atmospheric chemistry instrument to be hosted by the International Space Station (ISS) as early as 2013 and will initiate a Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) Follow-on mission for launch in 2016.

Proceedings Article | 13 October 2010 Paper

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) implementation

Steven Neeck, Ramesh Kakar, Ardeshir Azarbarzin, Arthur Hou

Proceedings Volume 7826, 78260X (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.868537

KEYWORDS: Satellites, Observatories, Microwave radiation, Space operations, Radar, Radiometry, Climatology, Meteorology, Sensors, Meteorological satellites

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The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission will provide enhanced space-based precipitation measurements with sufficient coverage, spatial resolution, temporal sampling, retrieval accuracy, and microphysical information to advance the understanding of Earth's water and energy cycle and to improve predictions of its climate, weather, and hydrometeorological processes. Such improvements will in turn improve decision support systems in broad societal applications (e.g. water resource management, agriculture, transportation, etc). GPM is a partnership between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), building upon their highly successful partnership on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). The GPM architecture consists of NASA satellites operating in partnership with other earth-observing satellites and instruments to produce global precipitation science data. The current generation of multi-satellite global precipitation products based on microwave/infrared sensors from uncoordinated satellite missions has for its anchor the TRMM precipitation radar and the TRMM Microwave Imager measurements over the tropics and subtropics (+/- 35 degrees latitude), with a mean sampling time of approximately 17 hours. The GPM mission will deploy a spaceborne Core Observatory as a reference standard to unify a space constellation of research and operational microwave sensors aimed at providing uniformly calibrated precipitation measurements globally every 2-4 hours. The Core Observatory measurements will provide, for the first time, quantitative information on precipitation particle size distribution needed for improving the accuracy of precipitation estimates by microwave radiometers and radars. In addition, the GPM will also include a second microwave radiometer and a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) communications subsystem for near real time data relay for a future partner-provided constellation satellite. This second GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) instrument, flown in a low-inclination orbit, combined with the Core Observatory will provide an improvement over TRMM in both global coverage and sampling rate (+/- 65 degrees, 10 hour mean sampling time). GPM is well into its final design and fabrication (Phase C) with planned launches in 2013 and 2014.

Proceedings Article | 23 September 2009 Paper

NASA's Earth science missions overview

Steven Neeck, Stephen Volz

Proceedings Volume 7474, 74740B (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.834140

KEYWORDS: Earth sciences, Satellites, Climatology, Earth's atmosphere, Space operations, Climate change, Clouds, Atmospheric sciences, Scientific research, Data modeling

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Proceedings Article | 9 October 2008 Paper

The decadal survey tier 2 missions

Steven Neeck, Kenneth Jucks, Eric Lindstrom, Hal Maring, Woody Turner

Proceedings Volume 7106, 71060A (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.803678

KEYWORDS: Earth sciences, Carbon dioxide, Climatology, Aerosols, Infrared radiation, Ecosystems, Soil science, Carbon, Infrared imaging, Infrared spectroscopy

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In January 2007, the National Research Council (NRC) released the first decadal survey addressing Earth science entitled "Earth Science and Applications from Space: National Imperatives for the Next Decade and Beyond". The study, initiated in 2004, conducted a decadal survey to generate consensus recommendations from the Earth and environmental science and applications communities regarding a systems approach to the space-based and ancillary observations encompassing the research programs of NASA, the related operational programs of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and associated programs, such as Landsat, a joint initiative of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA. Among its many recommendations, were that NOAA and NASA should undertake a set of 17 missions, phased over the next decade in three year groupings. Of these 17 missions, 15 were designated to NASA. The four NASA Phase 1 missions are currently in Pre-Phase A study at different levels of development with SMAP, a soil moisture monitoring mission, targeting a launch date of 2013 and ICESat-II, intended to continue the record initiated by ICESat-I to monitor ice sheet height changes for climate change diagnosis, targeting a launch date of 2015. The CLARREO solar and earth radiation monitoring mission and the DESDynI Earth surface and ice deformation monitoring mission are preparing to enter Pre-Phase A in 2009. The five NASA Phase 2 missions are: SWOT, a wide swath altimeter mission measuring ocean, lake, and river water levels; HyspIRI, a hyperspectral mission for measuring land surface composition for agriculture and mineral characterization and vegetation types for ecosystem health; ASCENDS, a day/night, all-latitude, all-season CO2 column measuring mission; ACE, an aerosol and cloud profiling mission for climate and water cycle research with an ocean color measuring capability for open ocean biogeochemistry; and GEO-CAPE, a geostationary mission for measuring atmospheric gas columns for air quality forecasts and ocean color for coastal ecosystem health and climate emissions. Risk reduction and concept maturity studies are underway for these Phase 2 missions with the goal to improve their understanding and scope to enable the Earth Science Division (ESD) to make programmatic decisions for FY10 and beyond. An overview of their science requirements, system concept, technology readiness, and study status will be provided.

Proceedings Article | 9 October 2008 Paper

Global precipitation measurement (GPM) preliminary design

Steven Neeck, Ramesh Kakar, Ardeshir Azarbarzin, Arthur Hou

Proceedings Volume 7106, 710607 (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.803675

KEYWORDS: Satellites, Microwave radiation, Space operations, Observatories, Climatology, Sensors, Meteorological satellites, Radiometry, Imaging systems, Aerospace engineering

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Proceedings Article | 9 October 2008 Paper

The Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM)

Steven Neeck, Parag Vaze

Proceedings Volume 7106, 710603 (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.803677

KEYWORDS: Satellites, Space operations, Receivers, Global Positioning System, Climatology, Radiometry, Radar, Microwave radiation, Antennas, Climate change

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The Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM), also known as Jason-2, will extend into the next decade the continuous climate data record of sea surface height measurements begun in 1992 by the joint NASA/Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) TOPEX/Poseidon mission and continued by the NASA/CNES Jason-1 mission in 2001. This multi-decadal record has already helped scientists study the issue of global sea level rise and better understand how ocean circulation and climate change are related. With OSTM, high-precision ocean altimetry has come of age. The mission will serve as a bridge to transition the collection of these measurements to the world's weather and climate forecasting agencies. The agencies will use them for short- and seasonal-to-long-range weather and climate forecasting. OSTM is designed to last at least three years. It will be placed in the same orbit (1,336 kilometers) as Jason-1 and will move along the same ground track at an inclination of 66 degrees to the equator. It will repeat its ground track every 10 days, covering 95 percent of the world's ice-free oceans. A tandem mission between Jason-1 and OSTM will be conducted to further improve tide models in coastal and shallow seas, and to better understand the dynamics of ocean currents and eddies. OSTM is an international and interagency mission developed and operated as a four-party collaboration among NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), CNES, and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). CNES is providing the spacecraft, NASA and CNES are jointly providing the payload instruments and NASA is providing the launch vehicle. After completing the onorbit commissioning of the spacecraft, CNES will hand over operation and control of the spacecraft to NOAA. NOAA and EUMETSAT will generate the near-real-time products and distribute them to users. OSTM was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on June 20, 2008. Launch and Early Orbit Operations (LEOP) and the on-orbit Assessment Phase have been completed. Preliminary science data show excellent performance.

Proceedings Article | 2 October 2008 Paper

NASA's Earth science flight programs

Steven Neeck, Stephen Volz

Proceedings Volume 7106, 710602 (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.803676

KEYWORDS: Earth sciences, Satellites, Earth's atmosphere, Climatology, Climate change, Atmospheric sciences, Clouds, Space operations, Sensors, Earth observing sensors

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Proceedings Article | 17 October 2007 Paper

CEOS precipitation constellation

Steven Neeck, Riko Oki

Proceedings Volume 6744, 674428 (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.746142

KEYWORDS: Satellites, Sensors, Climatology, Standards development, Satellite communications, Microwave radiation, Prototyping, Data archive systems, Algorithm development, Environmental sensing

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Proceedings Article | 5 October 2006 Paper

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) development

Steven Neeck, Ramesh Kakar, Ardeshir Azarbarzin, Arthur Hou

Proceedings Volume 6361, 63610N (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.690720

KEYWORDS: Space operations, Climatology, Microwave radiation, Satellites, Meteorology, Data modeling, Environmental sensing, Calibration, Sensors, Radiometry

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Understanding the Earth's climate and how it responds to climate perturbations relies on knowledge of how atmospheric moisture, clouds, latent heating, and the large-scale circulation vary with changing climate conditions. The physical process that links these key climate elements is precipitation. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission will be key to answering the following related research questions: •how are global precipitation, evaporation, and the cycling of water changing? •how are variations in local weather, precipitation, and water resources related to global climate variation? •how can weather forecast duration and reliability be improved by new space-based observations, data assimilation and modeling? GPM is a joint initiative with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and other international partners that integrates previously planned and dedicated missions in a scalable and evolving constellation of multiple spacecraft and data processing and validation ground systems. Its science objectives are: •to improve ongoing efforts to predict climate by providing near-global measurement of precipitation, its distribution, and physical processes; •to improve the accuracy of weather and precipitation forecasts through more accurate measurement of rain rates and latent heating; •to provide more frequent and complete sampling of the Earth's precipitation. It is a potential component of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) as envisioned by the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO). GPM will consist of a core spacecraft to measure precipitation structure and to provide a calibration standard for the constellation spacecraft, an international constellation of NASA and contributed spacecraft to provide frequent precipitation measurements on a global basis, calibration/validation sites distributed globally with a broad array of precipitation-measuring instrumentation, and a global precipitation data system to produce and distribute global rain maps and climate research products. GPM is now in formulation phase. GPM launches are targeted to begin in 2013.

Proceedings Article | 5 October 2006 Paper

NASA's Earth observation programs

Steven Neeck, Theodore Hammer

Proceedings Volume 6361, 63610C (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.690721

KEYWORDS: Climate change, Climatology, Satellites, Earth sciences, Earth's atmosphere, Atmospheric sciences, Carbon, Space operations, Environmental sensing, Earth observing sensors

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Proceedings Article | 21 October 2005 Paper

NASA plans for exploration of the Earth-Sun system

Steven Neeck, Charles Gay

Proceedings Volume 5978, 59780C (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.634540

KEYWORDS: Satellites, Space operations, Clouds, Sun, Climatology, Climate change, Environmental sensing, Aerosols, Sensors, Earth observing sensors

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NASA's Science Mission Directorate's Earth-Sun System Division (ESSD) uses the unique vantage point of space to understand and explore Earth and the Sun. The relationship between the Sun and the Earth is at the heart of a complex, dynamic system that researchers do not yet fully understand. The Earth-Sun system is comprised of diverse components that interact in complex ways, requiring unique capabilities for characterizing, understanding, and predicting change. Therefore, researchers need to understand the Sun, the heliosphere, and Earth's atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, and biosphere as a single connected system. At the center of the solar system is the Sun, a magnetically variable star. This variability has impacts on life and technology that are felt here on Earth and throughout the solar system. NASA is working to understand this planetary system because it is the only star-planet system researchers can investigate in detail. Using NASA's view from space to study the Earth-Sun system, researchers also can better predict critical changes to Earth and its space environment. NASA's ESSD has a critical role in implementing three major national directives: - Climate Change Research via Climate Change Science Program - Global Earth Observation System of Systems via the U.S. Group on Earth Observations (US GEO) - Vision for Space Exploration NASA Earth-Sun system science conducts and sponsors research, collects new observations from space, develops technologies and extends science and technology education to learners of all ages. NASA now has a system of spacecraft with the ability to characterize the current state of the Earth-Sun system. In the years ahead, NASA's fleet will evolve into constellations of smart satellites that can be reconfigured based on the changing needs of science and technology. From there we envision an intelligent and integrated observation network composed of sensors deployed in vantage points from the subsurface to deep space. Technical and programmatic details and status of representative Earth-Sun system missions will be presented.

Proceedings Article | 21 October 2005 Paper

Global precipitation measurement (GPM) progress

Steven Neeck, Ramesh Kakar, John Durning, Arthur Hou

Proceedings Volume 5978, 59780F (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.627672

KEYWORDS: Space operations, Climatology, Satellites, Microwave radiation, Radar, Calibration, Meteorology, Data processing, Data modeling, Environmental sensing

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Proceedings Article | 4 November 2004 Paper

NASA’s future Earth observation plans

Steven Neeck, Granville Paules, J. McCuistion Ramesh

Proceedings Volume 5570, (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.573033

KEYWORDS: Satellites, Space operations, Climatology, Earth's atmosphere, Carbon, Clouds, Landsat, Aerosols, Soil science, Earth observing sensors

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NASA's Science Mission Directorate, working with its domestic and international partners, provides accurate, objective scientific data and analysis to advance our understanding of Earth system processes. Learning more about these processes will enable improved prediction capability for climate, weather, and natural hazards. Earth interactions occur on a continuum of spatial and temporal scales ranging from short-term weather to long-term climate, and from local and regional to global. Quantitatively describing these changes means precisely measuring from space scores of biological and geophysical parameters globally. New missions that SMD will launch in the coming decade will complement the first series of the Earth Observing System. These next generation systematic measurement missions are being planned to extend or enhance the record of science-quality data necessary for understanding and predicting global change. These missions include the NPOESS Preparatory Project, Ocean Surface Topography Mission, Global Precipitation Measurement, Landsat Data Continuity Mission, and an aerosol polarimetry mission called Glory. New small explorer missions will make first of a kind Earth observations. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory will measure sources and sinks of carbon to help the Nation and the world formulate effective strategies to constrain the amount of this greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Aquarius will measure ocean surface salinity which is key to ocean circulation in the North Atlantic that produces the current era's mild climate in northern Europe. HYDROS will measure soil moisture globally. Soil moisture is critical to agriculture and to managing fresh water resources. NASA continues to design, develop and launch the Nation's civilian operational environmental satellites, in both polar and geostationary orbits, by agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NASA plans to develop an advanced atmospheric sounder, GIFTS, for geostationary orbit to facilitate continuous measurements of weather-related phenomena, improve "nowcasting" of extreme weather events, and measure important atmospheric gases. NASA is currently developing with its partners the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) and the next-generation geostationary system, GOES-R. Future missions will migrate today's capabilities in low Earth orbit to higher orbits such as L1 and L2 to enable more continuous monitoring of changes in the Earth system with a smaller number of satellites.

Proceedings Article | 4 November 2004 Paper

Global precipitation measurement (GPM) status

Steven Neeck, Ramesh Kakar, John Durning, Eric Smith

Proceedings Volume 5570, (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.564876

KEYWORDS: Space operations, Climatology, Satellites, Environmental sensing, Microwave radiation, Meteorology, Calibration, Data modeling, Radar, Algorithm development

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Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) is a global space endeavor conceived by the US and Japan that has sparked global interest. Building upon the success of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), it will initiate the measurement of global precipitation, a key climate factor. Its science objectives are to improve ongoing efforts to predict climate by providing near-global measurement of precipitation, its distribution, and physical processes; to improve the accuracy of weather and precipitation forecasts through more accurate measurement of rain rates and latent heating; and to provide more frequent and complete sampling of the Earth's precipitation. It has received endorsements from the World Climate Research Programme, the World Meteorological Organization, and the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites. GPM is envisioned to consist of a core spacecraft to measure precipitation structure and to provide a calibration standard for the constellation spacecraft, an international constellation of spacecraft to provide frequent precipitation measurements on a global basis, calibration/validation sites distributed globally with a broad array of precipitation-measuring instrumentation, and a global precipitation data system to produce and distribute global rain maps and climate research products. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to provide the core spacecraft, a constellation spacecraft and its launch, microwave radiometers, the precipitation processing system, the mission operations system, and an array of ground calibration and validation sites. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to contribute the radar for and launch of the core spacecraft. The European Space Agency (ESA) has studied a European constellation satellite contribution. India and France have expressed their interest in participating through the Megha-Tropiques project. South Korea has proposed the contribution of regional ground validation sites. Other nations are also expected to play major a role in GPM. GPM is now in formulation phase and is one of the highest priority new Earth science missions for which NASA seeks final approval. GPM launches are targeted to begin in 2010.

Proceedings Article | 2 February 2004 Paper

Formulating global precipitation measurement (GPM)

Steven Neeck, Ramesh Kakar, W. James Adams, Eric Smith

Proceedings Volume 5234, (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.511540

KEYWORDS: Space operations, Climatology, Data modeling, Satellites, Radar, Data centers, Climate change, Meteorology, Microwave radiation, Environmental sensing

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Understanding the Earth's climate and how it responds to climate perturbations relies on knowledge of how atmospheric moisture, clouds, latent heating, and the large-scale circulation vary with changing climate conditions. The physical process that links these key climate elements is precipitation. GPM will establish a benchmark for global rainfall, building upon the highly successful joint US/Japan Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). GPM's global atmospheric monitoring of water and energy will be a key contributor to answering the science research strategy questions: (1) How are global precipitation, evaporation, and the cycling of water changing? (2) How are variations in local weather, precipitation, and water resources related to global climate variation? (3) How can weather forecast duration and reliability be improved by new space-based observations, data assimilation and modeling? In an era of climatic uncertainty we need to be able to detect, understand and react to early signs that rainfall patterns may be changing in concert with better-understood climate variables. The transient nature of rainfall makes the detection of subtle changes difficult. Rainfall information over ~3 hours time scale is needed to improve weather forecast models, data assimilation models, hydrological models and flash flood forecasts. GPM is will substantially improve upon the temporal and spatial coverage of TRMM and extend the measurement of rainfall globally. Global Precipitation Measurement is a global endeavor that has sparked global interest. It has received overwhelming endorsement from the World Climate Research Programme, the World Meteorological Organization, and the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites. Japan's National Space Development Agency (NASDA) plans to contribute the radar for and launch of a core satellite. The European Space Agency (ESA) is currently conducting a feasibility study for a European constellation satellite contribution to GPM. India and France have expressed their interest in participating through the Megha-Tropiques project. South Korea is proposing the contribution of a constellation satellite bus in addition to regional ground validation sites. Other nations are also expected to play major a role in GPM. GPM is now in formulation and is one of the highest priority new missions for which NASA's Earth Science Enterprise seeks final approval. GPM launches are targeted to begin in 2009.

Proceedings Article | 8 April 2003 Paper

Enabling global precipitation measurement (GPM)

Steven Neeck, Ramesh Kakar, W. James Adams, Eric Smith

Proceedings Volume 4881, (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.462594

KEYWORDS: Space operations, Satellites, Radar, Climatology, Meteorology, Microwave radiation, Data modeling, Calibration, Radiometry, Data centers

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Proceedings Article | 12 December 2001 Paper

Global precipitation measurement (GPM)

Steven Neeck, Gilbert Flaming, W. James Adams, Eric Smith

Proceedings Volume 4540, (2001) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.450651

KEYWORDS: Satellites, Microwave radiation, Radiometry, Space operations, Clouds, Meteorological satellites, Radar, Data processing, Calibration, Climatology

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Proceedings Article | 28 December 1999 Paper

Contribution of EOS Terra to Earth science

Francesco Bordi, Steven Neeck, Christopher Scolese

Proceedings Volume 3870, (1999) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.373194

KEYWORDS: Clouds, Calibration, MODIS, Climate change, Climatology, Short wave infrared radiation, Environmental sensing, Infrared radiation, Space telescopes, Telescopes

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Proceedings Article | 21 December 1998 Paper

EOS AM-1

Steven Neeck, Christopher Scolese, Francesco Bordi

Proceedings Volume 3498, (1998) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.333619

KEYWORDS: MODIS, Space operations, Clouds, Imaging systems, Radiometry, Pollution, Troposphere, Carbon, Water, Gases

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Proceedings Article | 21 December 1998 Paper

NPOESS preparatory project (NPP)

R. Murphy, Raynor Taylor, Steven Neeck, Bruce Wielicki, Bruce Barkstrom, M. Crison, J. Swenson

Proceedings Volume 3498, (1998) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.333664

KEYWORDS: MODIS, Clouds, Climatology, Atmospheric modeling, Sensors, Aerosols, Satellites, Data modeling, Electromagnetic coupling, Earth sciences

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Proceedings Article | 31 December 1997 Paper

EOS follow-on missions (near-term)

Francesco Bordi, Steven Neeck, Christopher Scolese, Raynor Taylor

Proceedings Volume 3221, (1997) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.298076

KEYWORDS: Landsat, Climate change, Climatology, Atmospheric sciences, Ozone, Polarization, Bidirectional reflectance transmission function, Image resolution, Earth observing sensors

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Proceedings Article | 31 December 1997 Paper

EOS AM-1: launch-9 months

Steven Neeck, Christopher Scolese, Francesco Bordi

Proceedings Volume 3221, (1997) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.298075

KEYWORDS: Clouds, Imaging systems, MODIS, Aerospace engineering, Space operations, Planets, Earth observing sensors, Satellites, Climate change, Carbon

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Proceedings Article | 27 January 1997 Paper

EOS-AM1: L-2

Steven Neeck, Christopher Scolese, Francesco Bordi

Proceedings Volume 2957, (1997) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.265457

KEYWORDS: Calibration, Space operations, Data modeling, Atmospheric modeling, MODIS, Environmental sensing, Climatology, Climate change, Clouds, Aerospace engineering

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Proceedings Article | 27 January 1997 Paper

EOS-AM2: a design update

Francesco Bordi, Steven Neeck, Christopher Scolese, Raynor Taylor

Proceedings Volume 2957, (1997) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.265458

KEYWORDS: MODIS, Space operations, Clouds, Aerosols, Calibration, Atmospheric particles, Landsat, Earth observing sensors, Data storage, Imaging systems

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Proceedings Article | 15 December 1995 Paper

Land remote-sensing mission design process: EOS-AM2--a case study

Francesco Bordi, Steven Neeck, Christopher Scolese, William Stoney, Raynor Taylor, P. Westmeyer

Proceedings Volume 2583, (1995) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.228608

KEYWORDS: Space operations, MODIS, Earth observing sensors, Clouds, Reflectivity, Calibration, Sensors, Aerosols, Spatial resolution, Landsat

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Proceedings Article | 15 December 1995 Paper

EOS-AM1: project update

Steven Neeck, Christopher Scolese, Francesco Bordi

Proceedings Volume 2583, (1995) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.228555

KEYWORDS: Space operations, MODIS, Calibration, Short wave infrared radiation, Clouds, Antennas, Atmospheric modeling, Interfaces, Spatial resolution, Instrument modeling

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Proceedings Article | 9 January 1995 Paper

Jitter and stability calculation for the ASTER instrument

Steven Neeck, Thomas Venator, Joseph Bolek

Proceedings Volume 2317, (1995) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.198958

KEYWORDS: Space operations, Short wave infrared radiation, Space telescopes, Telescopes, Finite element methods, Data modeling, Cryocoolers, Modeling, Error analysis, Scanners

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Proceedings Article | 9 January 1995 Paper

EOS-AM1: current status

Christopher Scolese, Steven Neeck, Francesco Bordi

Proceedings Volume 2317, (1995) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.198952

KEYWORDS: Space operations, Calibration, MODIS, Clouds, Short wave infrared radiation, Aerospace engineering, Diffusers, Climatology, Black bodies, Spatial resolution

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Showing 5 of 42 publications

Proceedings Volume Editor (20)

SPIE Conference Volume | 14 October 2021

Sensors, Systems, and Next-Generation Satellites XXV

SPIE Conference Volume | 9 October 2020

Sensors, Systems, and Next-Generation Satellites XXIV

SPIE Conference Volume | 13 November 2019

Sensors, Systems, and Next-Generation Satellites XXIII

SPIE Conference Volume | 29 October 2018

Sensors, Systems, and Next-Generation Satellites XXII

SPIE Conference Volume | 15 November 2017

Sensors, Systems, and Next-Generation Satellites XXI

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Sensors, Systems, and Next-Generation Satellites XXV

13 September 2021 | Online Only, Spain

Sensors, Systems, and Next-Generation Satellites XXIV

21 September 2020 | Online Only, United Kingdom

Sensors, Systems, and Next-Generation Satellites XXIII

9 September 2019 | Strasbourg, France