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By NASA
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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Auburn University’s project, “Dynamic Ecosystems for Mars ECLSS Testing, Evaluation, and Reliability (DEMETER),” won top prize in NASA’s 2025 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) Competition Forum. National Institute of Aerospace A team from Auburn University took top honors in NASA’s 2025 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) Competition Forum, where undergraduate and graduate teams competed to develop new concepts for operating on the Moon, Mars and beyond.
Auburn’s project, “Dynamic Ecosystems for Mars Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) Testing, Evaluation, and Reliability (DEMETER)” advised by Dr. Davide Guzzetti, took home top prize out of 14 Finalist Teams from academic institutions across the nation. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University took second place overall for their concept, “Adaptive Device for Assistance and Maintenance (ADAM),” advised by Dr. Kevin Shinpaugh. The University of Maryland took third place overall with their project, “Servicing Crane Outfitted Rover for Payloads, Inspection, Operations, N’stuff (SCORPION),” advised by Dr. David Akin, Nich Bolatto, and Charlie Hanner.
The first and second place overall winning teams will present their work at the 2025 AIAA Accelerating Space Commerce, Exploration, and New Discovery (ASCEND) Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada in July.
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University took second place overall in NASA’s 2025 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) Competition Forum for their concept, “Adaptive Device for Assistance and Maintenance (ADAM).”National Institute of Aerospace The RASC-AL Competition, which took place from June 2-4, 2025, in Cocoa Beach, Florida, is a unique initiative designed to bridge the gap between academia and the aerospace industry, empowering undergraduate and graduate students to apply their classroom knowledge to real-world challenges in space exploration. This year’s themes included “Sustained Lunar Evolution – An Inspirational Moment,” “Advanced Science Missions and Technology Demonstrators for Human-Mars Precursor Campaign,” and “Small Lunar Servicing and Maintenance Robot.”
“The RASC-AL Competition cultivates students who bring bold, imaginative thinking to the kinds of complex challenges we tackle at NASA,” said Dan Mazanek, RASC-AL program sponsor and senior space systems engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “These teams push the boundaries of what’s possible in space system design and offer new insights. These insights help build critical engineering capabilities, preparing the next generation of aerospace leaders to step confidently into the future of space exploration.”
As NASA continues to push the boundaries of space exploration, the RASC-AL Competition stands as an opportunity for aspiring aerospace professionals to design real-world solutions to complex problems facing the Agency. By engaging with the next generation of innovators, NASA can collaborate with the academic community to crowd-source new solutions for the challenges of tomorrow.
Additional 2025 Forum Awards include:
Best in Theme: Sustained Lunar Evolution: An Inspirational Moment
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Project Title: Project Aeneas Advisor: Dr. Kevin Shinpaugh Best in Theme: Advanced Science Missions and Technology Demonstrators for Human-Mars Precursor Campaign
Auburn University Project Title: Dynamic Ecosystems for Mars ECLSS Testing, Evaluation, and Reliability (DEMETER) Advisor: Dr. Davide Guzzetti Best in Theme: Small Lunar Servicing and Maintenance Robot
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Project Title: Adaptive Device for Assistance and Maintenance (ADAM) Advisor: Dr. Kevin Shinpaugh Best Prototype: South Dakota State University
Project Title: Next-gen Operations and Versatile Assistant (NOVA) Advisor: Dr. Todd Letcher, Allea Klauenberg, Liam Murray, Alex Schaar, Nick Sieler, Dylan Stephens, Carter Waggoner
RASC-AL is open to undergraduate and graduate students studying disciplines related to human exploration, including aerospace, bio-medical, electrical, and mechanical engineering, and life, physical, and computer sciences. RASC-AL projects allow students to incorporate their coursework into space exploration objectives in a team environment and help bridge strategic knowledge gaps associated with NASA’s vision. Students have the opportunity to interact with NASA officials and industry experts and develop relationships that could lead to participation in other NASA student research programs.
RASC-AL is sponsored by the Strategies and Architectures Office within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, and by the Space Mission Analysis Branch within the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at NASA Langley. It is administered by the National Institute of Aerospace.
For more information about the RASC-AL competition, including complete theme and submission guidelines, visit: http://rascal.nianet.org.
National Institute of Aerospace
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Joe Atkinson
Public Affairs Officer, NASA Langley Research Center
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Last Updated Jun 05, 2025 Related Terms
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Explore This Section Earth Earth Observer Editor’s Corner Feature Articles Meeting Summaries News Science in the News Calendars In Memoriam Announcements More Archives Conference Schedules Style Guide 8 min read
ICESat-2 Applications Team Hosts Satellite Bathymetry Workshop
Introduction
On September 15, 2018, the NASA Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) mission launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base and began its journey to provide spatially dense and fine precision global measurements of our Earth’s surface elevation. Now in Phase E of NASA’s project life cycle (where the mission is carried out, data is collected and analyzed, and the spacecraft is maintained) of the mission and with almost six years of data collection, the focus shifts to looking ahead to new applications and synergies that may be developed using data from ICESat-2’s one instrument: the Advanced Topographic Laster Altimetry System (ATLAS) – see Figure 1.
Figure 1. The ATLAS instrument onboard the ICESat-2 platform obtains data using a green, photon-counting lidar that is split into six beams. Figure credit: ICESat-2 Mission Team Satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB) is the process of mapping the seafloor using satellite imagery. The system uses light penetration and reflection in the water to make measurements and estimate variations in ocean floor depths. SDB provides several advantages over other techniques used to map the seafloor (e.g., cost-effectiveness, global coverage, and faster data acquisition). On the other hand, SDB can be limited by water clarity, spatial resolution of the remote sensing measurement, and accuracy, depending on the method and satellite platform/instrument. These limitations notwithstanding, SDB can be used in a wide variety of applications, e.g., coastal zone management, navigation and safety, marine habitat monitoring, and disaster response. ICESat-2 has become a major contributor to SDB, with over 2000 journal article references to this topic to date. Now is the time to think about the state-of-the-art and additional capabilities of SDB for the future.
To help stimulate such thinking, the NASA ICESat-2 applications team hosted a one-day workshop on March 17, 2025. The workshop focused on the principles and methods for SDB. Held in conjunction with the annual US-Hydro meeting on March 17–20, 2025 at the Wilmington Convention Center in Wilmington, NC, the meeting was hosted by the Hydrographic Society of America. During the workshop the applications team brought together SDB end-users, algorithm developers, operators, and decision makers to discuss the current state and future needs of satellite bathymetry for the community. The objective of this workshop was to provide a space to foster collaboration and conceptualization of SDB applications not yet exploited and to allow for networking to foster synergies and collaborations between different sectors.
Meeting Overview
The workshop provided an opportunity for members from government, academia, and private sectors to share their SDB research, applications, and data fusion activities to support decision making and policy support across a wide range of activities. Presenters highlighted SDB principles, methods, and tools for SDB, an introduction of the new ICESat-2 bathymetric data product (ATL24), which is now available through the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). During the workshop, the ICESat-2 team delivered a live demonstration of a web service for science data processing. Toward the end of the day, the applications team opened an opportunity for attendees to gather and discuss various topics related to SDB. This portion of the meeting was also available to online participation via Webex Webinars, which broadened the discussion.
Meeting Goal
The workshop offered a set of plenary presentations and discussions. During the plenary talks, participants provided an overview of Earth observation and SDB principles, existing methods and tools, an introduction to the newest ICESat-2 bathymetry product ATL24, a demonstration of the use of the webservice SlideRule Earth, and opportunities for open discission, asking questions and developing collaborations.
Meeting and Summary Format
The agenda of the SDB workshop was intended to bring together SDB end-users, including ICESat-2 application developers, satellite operators, and decision makers from both government and non-governmental entities to discuss the current state and future needs of the community. The workshop consisted of six sessions that covered various topics of SDB. This report is organized according to the topical focus of the plenary presentations with a brief narrative summary of each presentation included. The discussions that followed were not recorded and are not included in the report. The last section of this report consists of conclusions and future steps. The online meeting agenda includes links to slide decks for many of the presentations.
Welcoming Remarks
Aimee Neeley [NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)/Science Systems and Applications Inc. (SSAI)—ICESat-2 Mission Applications Lead] organized the workshop and served as the host for the event. She opened the day with a brief overview of workshop goals, logistics, and the agenda.
Overview of Principles of SDB
Ross Smith [TCarta—Senior Geospatial Scientist] provided an overview of the principles of space-based bathymetry, including the concepts, capabilities, limitations, and methods. Smith began by relaying the history of satellite-derived bathymetry, which began with a collaboration between NASA and Jacques Cousteau in 1975, in which Cousteau used Landsat 1 data, as well as in situ data, to calculate bathymetry to a depth of 22 m (72 ft) in the Bahamas. Smith then described the five broad methodologies and their basic concepts for deriving bathymetry from remote sensing: radar altimetry, bottom reflectance, wave kinematics, laser altimetry, and space-based photogrammetry – see Figure 2. He then introduced the broad methodologies, most commonly used satellite sensors, the capabilities and limitations of each sensor, and the role of ICESat-2 in satellite bathymetry.
Figure 2. Satellite platforms commonly used for SDB. Figure credit: Ross Smith Review of SDB Methods and Tools
In this grouping of plenary presentations, representatives from different organizations presented their methods and tools for creating satellite bathymetry products.
Gretchen Imahori [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Geodetic Survey, Remote Sensing Division] presented the NOAA SatBathy (beta v2.2.3) Tool Update. During this presentation, Imahori provided an overview of the NOAA SatBathy desktop tool, example imagery, updates to the latest version, and the implementation plan for ATL24. The next session included more details about ATL24.
Minsu Kim [United States Geological Survey (USGS), Earth Resource and Observation Center (EROS)/ Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR)—Chief Scientist] presented the talk Satellite Derived Bathymetry (SDB) Using OLI/MSI Based-On Physics-Based Algorithm. He provided an overview of an SDB method based on atmospheric and oceanic optical properties. Kim also shared examples of imagery from the SDB product – see Figure 3.
Figure 3. Three-dimensional renderings of the ocean south of Key West, FL created by adding SDB Digital Elevation Model (physics-based) to a Landsat Operational Land Imager (OLI) scene [top] and a Sentinel-2 Multispectral Imager (MSI) scene [bottom]. Figure credit: Minsu Kim Edward Albada [Earth Observation and Environmental Services GmbH (EOMAP)—Principal] presented the talk Satellite Lidar Bathymetry and EoappTM SLB-Online. The company EOMAP provides various services, including SDB, habitat mapping. For context, Albada provided an overview of EoappTM SDB-Online, a cloud-based software for creating SDB. (EoappTM SDB-online is one of several Eoapp apps and is based on the ICESat-2 photon data product (ATL03). Albada also provided example use cases from Eoapp – see Figure 4.
Figure 4.A display of the Marquesas Keys (part of the Florida Keys) using satellite lidar bathymetry data from the Eoapp SLB-Online tool from EOMAP. Figure credit: Edward Albada Monica Palaseanu-Lovejoy [USGS GMEG—Research Geographer] presented on a Satellite Triangulated Sea Depth (SaTSeaD): Bathymetry Module for NASA Ames Stereo Pipeline (ASP). She provided an overview of the shallow water bathymetry SaTSeaD module, a photogrammetric method for mapping bathymetry. Palaseanu-Lovejoy presented error statistics and validation procedures. She also shared case study results from Key West, FL; Cocos Lagoon, Guam; and Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico – see Figure 5.
Figure 5. Photogrammetric bathymetry map of Cabo Roja, Puerto Rico displayed using the SatSeaD Satellite Triangulated Sea Depth (SaTSeaD): Bathymetry Module for NASA Ames Stereo Pipeline (ASP) module. Figure credit: Monica Palaseanu-Lovejoy Ross Smith presented a presentation on TCarta’s Trident Tools: Approachable SDB|Familiar Environment. During this presentation, Smith provided an overview of the Trident Tools Geoprocessing Toolbox deployed in Esri’s ArcPro. Smith described several use cases for the toolbox in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Lucayan Archipelago, Bahamas; and the Red Sea.
Michael Jasinski [GSFC—Research Hydrologist] presented on The ICESat-2 Inland Water Along Track Algorithm (ATL13). He provided an overview of the ICESat-2 data product ATL13 an inland water product that is distributed by NSIDC. Jasinski described the functionality of the ATL13 semi-empirical algorithm and proceeded to provide examples of its applications with lakes and shallow coastal waters – see Figure 6.
Figure 6. A graphic of the network of lakes and rivers in North America that are measured by ICESat-2. Figure credit: Michael Jasinski ATL24 Data Product Update
Christopher Parrish [Oregon State University, School of Civil and Construction Engineering—Professor] presented on ATL24: A New Global ICESat-2 Bathymetric Data Product. Parrish provided an overview of the recently released ATL24 product and described the ATL24 workflow, uncertainty analysis, and applications in shallow coastal waters. Parrish included a case study where ATL24 data were used for bathymetric mapping of Kiriwina Island, Papua New Guinea – see Figure 7.
Figure 7. ATL24 data observed for Kiriwina Island, Papua New Guinea. Figure credit: Christopher Parrish SlideRule Demo
J. P. Swinski [GSFC—Computer Engineer] presented SlideRule Earth: Enabling Rapid, Scalable, Open Science. Swinski explained that SlideRule Earth is a public web service that provides access to on-demand processing and visualization of ICESat-2 data. SlideRule can be used to process a subset of ICESat-2 data products, including ATL24 – see Figure 8.
Figure 8. ATL24 data observed for Sanibel, FL as viewed on the SlideRule Earth public web client. Figure credit: SlideRule Earth SDB Accuracy
Kim Lowell [University of New Hampshire—Data Analytics Research Scientist and Affiliate Professor] presented on SDB Accuracy Assessment and Improvement Talking Points. During this presentation, Lowell provided examples of accuracy assessments and uncertainty through the comparison of ground measurement of coastal bathymetry to those modeled from satellite data.
Conclusion
The ICESat-2 Satellite Bathymetry workshop fostered discussion and collaboration around the topic of SDB methods. The plenary speakers presented the state-of-the-art methods used by different sectors and organizations, including government and private entities. With the release of ATL24, ICESat-2’s new bathymetry product, it was prudent to have a conversation about new and upcoming capabilities for all methods and measurements of satellite bathymetry. Both in-person and online participants were provided with the opportunity to learn, ask questions, and discuss potential applications in their own research. The ICESat-2 applications team hopes to host more events to ensure the growth of this field to maximize the capabilities of ICESat-2 and other Earth Observing systems.
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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
A lot can change in a year for Earth’s forests and vegetation, as springtime and rainy seasons can bring new growth, while cooling temperatures and dry weather can bring a dieback of those green colors. And now, a novel type of NASA visualization illustrates those changes in a full complement of colors as seen from space.
Researchers have now gathered a complete year of PACE data to tell a story about the health of land vegetation by detecting slight variations in leaf colors. Previous missions allowed scientists to observe broad changes in chlorophyll, the pigment that gives plants their green color and also allows them to perform photosynthesis. But PACE now allows scientists to see three different pigments in vegetation: chlorophyll, anthocyanins, and carotenoids. The combination of these three pigments helps scientists pinpoint even more information about plant health. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite is designed to view Earth’s microscopic ocean plants in a new lens, but researchers have proved its hyperspectral use over land, as well.
Previous missions measured broad changes in chlorophyll, the pigment that gives plants their green color and also allows them to perform photosynthesis. Now, for the first time, PACE measurements have allowed NASA scientists and visualizers to show a complete year of global vegetation data using three pigments: chlorophyll, anthocyanins, and carotenoids. That multicolor imagery tells a clearer story about the health of land vegetation by detecting the smallest of variations in leaf colors.
“Earth is amazing. It’s humbling, being able to see life pulsing in colors across the whole globe,” said Morgaine McKibben, PACE applications lead at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It’s like the overview effect that astronauts describe when they look down at Earth, except we are looking through our technology and data.”
Anthocyanins, carotenoids, and chlorophyll data light up North America, highlighting vegetation and its health.Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio Anthocyanins are the red pigments in leaves, while carotenoids are the yellow pigments – both of which we see when autumn changes the colors of trees. Plants use these pigments to protect themselves from fluctuations in the weather, adapting to the environment through chemical changes in their leaves. For example, leaves can turn more yellow when they have too much sunlight but not enough of the other necessities, like water and nutrients. If they didn’t adjust their color, it would damage the mechanisms they have to perform photosynthesis.
In the visualization, the data is highlighted in bright colors: magenta represents anthocyanins, green represents chlorophyll, and cyan represents carotenoids. The brighter the colors are, the more leaves there are in that area. The movement of these colors across the land areas show the seasonal changes over time.
In areas like the evergreen forests of the Pacific Northwest, plants undergo less seasonal change. The data highlights this, showing comparatively steadier colors as the year progresses.
The combination of these three pigments helps scientists pinpoint even more information about plant health.
“Shifts in these pigments, as detected by PACE, give novel information that may better describe vegetation growth, or when vegetation changes from flourishing to stressed,” said McKibben. “It’s just one of many ways the mission will drive increased understanding of our home planet and enable innovative, practical solutions that serve society.”
The Ocean Color Instrument on PACE collects hyperspectral data, which means it observes the planet in 100 different wavelengths of visible and near infrared light. It is the only instrument – in space or elsewhere – that provides hyperspectral coverage around the globe every one to two days. The PACE mission builds on the legacy of earlier missions, such as Landsat, which gathers higher resolution data but observes a fraction of those wavelengths.
In a paper recently published in Remote Sensing Letters, scientists introduced the mission’s first terrestrial data products.
“This PACE data provides a new view of Earth that will improve our understanding of ecosystem dynamics and function,” said Fred Huemmrich, research professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, member of the PACE science and applications team, and first author of the paper. “With the PACE data, it’s like we’re looking at a whole new world of color. It allows us to describe pigment characteristics at the leaf level that we weren’t able to do before.”
As scientists continue to work with these new data, available on the PACE website, they’ll be able to incorporate it into future science applications, which may include forest monitoring or early detection of drought effects.
By Erica McNamee
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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Last Updated Jun 05, 2025 EditorKate D. RamsayerContactKate D. Ramsayerkate.d.ramsayer@nasa.gov Related Terms
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Two NASA-developed technologies are key components of a new high-resolution sensor for observing wildfires: High Operating Temperature Barrier Infrared Detector (HOT-BIRD), developed with support from NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO), and a cutting-edge Digital Readout Integrated Circuit (DROIC), developed with funding from NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.
NASA’s c-FIRST instrument could provide high resolution data from a compact space-based platform in under an hour, making it easier for wildfire managers to detect and monitor active burns. Credit: NASA/JPL A novel space-based sensor for observing wildfires could allow first responders to monitor burns at a global scale, paving the way for future small satellite (SmallSat) constellations dedicated entirely to fire management and prevention.
Developed with support from NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO), the “Compact Fire Infrared Radiance Spectral Tracker” (c-FIRST) is a small, mid-wave infrared sensor that collects thermal radiation data across five spectral bands. Most traditional space-based sensors dedicated to observing fires have long revisit times, observing a scene just once over days or even weeks. The compact c-FIRST sensor could be employed in a SmallSat constellation that could observe a scene multiple times a day, providing first responders data with high spatial resolution in under an hour.
In addition, c-FIRST’s dynamic spectral range covers the entire temperature profile of terrestrial wild fires, making it easier for first-responders to detect everything from smoldering, low-intensity fires to flaming, high intensity fires.
“Wildfires are becoming more frequent, and not only in California. It’s a worldwide problem, and it generates tons of by-products that create very unhealthy conditions for humans,” said Sarath Gunapala, who is an Engineering Fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and serves as Principal Investigator for c-FIRST.
The need for space-based assets dedicated to wildfire management is severe. During the Palisade and Eaton Fires earlier this year, strong winds kept critical observation aircraft from taking to the skies, making it difficult for firefighters to monitor and track massive burns.
Space-based sensors with high revisit rates and high spatial resolution would give firefighters and first responders a constant source of eye-in-the-sky data.
“Ground-based assets don’t have far-away vision. They can only see a local area. And airborne assets, they can’t fly all the time. A small constellation of CubeSats could give you that constant coverage,” said Gunapala.
c-FIRST leverages decades of sensor development at JPL to achieve its compact size and high performance. In particular, the quarter-sized High Operating Temperature Barrier Infrared Detector (HOT-BIRD), a compact infrared detector also developed at JPL with ESTO support, keeps c-FIRST small, eliminating the need for bulky cryocooler subsystems that add mass to traditional infrared sensors.
With HOT-BIRD alone, c-FIRST could gather high-resolution images and quantitative retrievals of targets between 300°K (about 80°F) to 1000°K (about 1300°F). But when paired with a state-of-the-art Digital Readout Integrated Circuit (DROIC), c-FIRST can observe targets greater than 1600°K (about 2400°F).
Developed by Copious Imaging LLC. and JPL with funding from NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, this DROIC features an in-pixel digital counter to reduce saturation, allowing c-FIRST to capture reliable infrared data across a broader spectral range.
Artifical intelligence (AI) will also play a role in c-FIRST’s success. Gunapala plans to leverage AI in an onboard smart controller that parses collected data for evidence of hot spots or active burns. This data will be prioritized for downlinking, keeping first responders one step ahead of potential wildfires.
“We wanted it to be simple, small, low cost, low power, low weight, and low volume, so that it’s ideal for a small satellite constellation,” said Gunapala.
Gunapala and his team had a unique opportunity to test c-FIRST after the Palisade and Eaton Fires in California. Flying their instrument aboard NASA’s B-200 Super King Air, the scientists identified lingering hot spots in the Palisades and Eaton Canyon area five days after the initial burn had been contained.
Now, the team is eyeing a path to low Earth orbit. Gunapala explained that their current prototype employs a standard desktop computer that isn’t suited for the rigors of space, and they’re working to incorporate a radiation-tolerant computer into their instrument design.
But this successful test over Los Angeles demonstrates c-FIRST is fit for fire detection and science applications. As wildfires become increasingly common and more destructive, Gunapala hopes that this tool will help first responders combat nascent wildfires before they become catastrophes.
“To fight these things, you need to detect them when they’re very small,” said Gunapala.
A publication about c-FIRST appeared in the journal “Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers” (SPIE) in March, 2023.
For additional details, see the entry for this project on NASA TechPort.
To learn more about emerging technologies for Earth science, visit ESTO’s open solicitations page.
Project Lead: Sarath Gunapala, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
Sponsoring Organization: NASA ESTO
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Explore This Section Earth Earth Observer Editor’s Corner Feature Articles Meeting Summaries News Science in the News Calendars In Memoriam More Archives Conference Schedules Style Guide 19 min read
Summary of the 2024 SAGE III/ISS Meeting
Introduction
The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) III/International Space Station [SAGEIII/ISS] Science Team Meeting (STM) took place on October 22–23, 2024, in a hybrid format. Approximately 50 scientists attended in person at NASA’s Langley Research Center (LaRC) – see Photo. Participants included researchers from U.S. universities, NASA LaRC, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) laboratories. Speakers from Canada and Germany also attended.
The history of the SAGE missions, the development and accomplishments of the SAGE III/ISS mission, and a summary of the 2022 STM appear in a previous article – see “Summary of the SAGE III/ISS Science Team Meeting,” in The Earth Observer, May–June 2023, 35:3, 11–18.
This article will summarize the content and key outcomes from the 2024 STM. The full agenda and presentations can be viewed at the SAGE III/ISS website. To access the presentations, use the link provided, then click on the Science Team tab and scroll about halfway down the page to find the 2024 meeting where they are listed.
Photo. Group photo of the in-person attendees of the SAGE III/ISS science team meeting, which took place at NASA’s Langley Research Center October 22–23, 2024. Photo Credit: NASA DAY ONE
Jun Wang [University of Iowa—SAGE III/ISS Science Team Leader] and David Flittner [LaRC—SAGE III/ISS Project Scientist] kicked off the STM. The pair welcomed all participants and invited Richard Eckman [NASA Headquarters (HQ)—SAGE III/ISS Program Scientist, now emeritus (as of January 1, 2025)] to deliver opening remarks. Allison McMahon [LaRC/Science Systems and Applications, Inc. (SSAI)—SAGE III/ISS Communications Lead] then spoke and provided logistical details for the meeting.
The morning sessions focused on project updates and the synergy between SAGE III/ISS and future missions currently in the planning phase, with potential launches in the early 2030s. The afternoon sessions were dedicated to aerosol research and the calibration/validation of SAGE III/ISS data products.
Project Operation and Data Product Briefing
David Flittner presented an update of the mission status, with over seven years and counting of data collection/analysis/release. SAGE III/ISS went through the 2023 Earth Science Senior Review (see page 15 of linked document for specific summary of the SAGE III/ISS results), and NASA HQ approved the proposal for continued operations for 2024–2026, with partial, overguide (i.e., above baseline request) funding approved to support community validation efforts, e.g., developing online quick look tools – see Figure 1 – and timely algorithm and product improvements. However, some reduction in mission staff and reorganization of work assignments have had to occur to stay within the allotted budget.
Overall, Flittner described 2024 as “a year of growth” for many on the SAGE III/ISS Team. He referenced important mission activities planned during the current three-year tenure of the new Science Team cohort. This work includes supporting the 2026 World Meteorological Organization (WMO) International Ozone assessment with a release of improved solar/lunar product in early 2025, examination of product sensitivities to variable aerosol loadings, introduction of a research product with retrieved temperature and pressure profiles, and continuing a much sought-after summer internship program.
Figure 1. An example of an enhanced tool for the community to visualize SAGE III/ISS data validation. Figure Credit: Mary Cate McKee [LaRC] Robbie Manion [LaRC] presented version 6.0 (V6) of the SAGE III/ISS data products, which were released in April 2025. Owing to a change in source ozone (O3) cross sections, this version will resolve the longstanding low bias in retrieved aerosol extinction around 600 nm. As a result, some changes in the downstream data products for inferred particle size distribution and aerosol/cloud categorization are expected. In addition, V6 will allow for recovery of hundreds of profiles previously impeded by the recent proliferation of sunspots.
Jamie Nehrir [LaRC] stated that SAGE III celebrated its seventh year onboard the ISS on February 19, 2024. [UPDATE: As of this publication, SAGE III/ISS has now passed eight years in orbit.] The payload continues to operate nominally surpassing 70,000 occultation events successfully acquired. Nehrir reported that SAGE III was not affected by the October 9, 2023, external leak from the Russian Nauka (or Multipurpose Laboratory) Module. However, the Disturbance Monitoring Package (DMP) lasers for the y- and z-axes on the instrument have been degrading. The operations team has been in a healthy dialog with the science and processing teams and external partners to determine the potential impact of these degradations on payload performance and on any ISS activities that could affect the science.
Invited Presentations on Synergy with New Limb Missions in Formulation
Lyatt Jaeglé [University of Washington] presented the mission concept for the Stratosphere Troposphere Response using Infrared Vertically-resolved light Explorer (STRIVE), which was recently selected for a competitive Phase A Concept Study within NASA’s 2023 Earth System Explorers Program (an element of the 2017–2027 Earth Science Decadal Survey). STRIVE fills a critical need for high vertical [1 km (0.6 mi)] resolution profiles of temperature, O3, trace gases, aerosols, and clouds in the upper troposphere–stratosphere (UTS). The system will provide near-global coverage and unparalleled horizontal sampling, producing 400,000 profiles each day. STRIVE will carry two synergistic instruments: a limb-scanning, infrared-imaging Dyson spectrometer to retrieve profiles of temperature, water vapor, trace gas concentrations, aerosol extinction, and cloud properties during day and night; and a dual-spectral, multi-directional, limb-profiling radiometer that retrieves detailed aerosol properties during day.
Björn-Martin Sinnhuber [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany] gave an overview of the Changing-Atmosphere Infrared Tomography Explorer (CAIRT), a candidate mission for the upcoming European Space Agency (ESA) Earth Explorer 11 satellite. If selected, CAIRT would provide passive infrared limb imaging of atmospheric temperature and trace constituents from the upper troposphere at about 5 km (3 mi) altitude up to the lower thermosphere at 115 km (71 mi) altitude. The presentation highlighted how these observations can provide information on how atmospheric gravity waves drive middle atmosphere circulation, age-of-air in the middle atmosphere, the descent of nitrogen oxides (Nox) from the thermosphere into the stratosphere, as well as the detection of sulfur species and sulfate (SO42-) aerosols in the stratosphere.
Aerosols
Mahesh Mundakkara [LaRC] presented the research used to generate the Global Space-based Stratospheric Aerosol Climatology (GloSSAC) product, a critical resource for analyzing and modeling the climatic effects of stratospheric aerosols. His presentation focused on assessing the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) limb profiler (LP) by comparing its data with other datasets, particularly SAGE III/ISS. (NOTE: While OMPS currently flies on the NASA–NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP), NOAA-20, and NOAA-21 platforms; LP is only part of OMPS on NOAA–21.) The evaluation aims to identify discrepancies and assess the suitability of OMPS-LP data for integration into the GloSSAC framework.
Jianglong Zhang [University of North Dakota] discussed the research plans of a newly funded SAGE project to investigate effective methods for improving stratospheric aerosol analyses and forecasts from aerosol models that can be used for future air quality and visibility forecasts and climate applications. Zhang also presented preliminary comparisons of collocated SAGE aerosol extinction and Cloud Aerosol Transport System (CATS) lidar aerosol extinction values in the stratosphere. [NOTE: CATS operated on ISS from 2015–2017.]
Sara Lu [The State University of New York, Albany] discussed efforts to examine smoke aerosol radiative effects in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere using SAGE III/ISS observations. Lu explained that this project aims to produce multiyear analysis of aerosol radiative effects from all known pyrocumulonimbus cloud (pyroCb) events worldwide over a range of pyroCb intensities and various injection altitudes, geographic locations, and backgrounds. He presented findings from a pyroCb inventory compiled by the Naval Research Lab (NRL).
Xi Chen and Jun Wang [both University of Iowa] presented their new project on retrieving aerosol properties using SAGE III/ISS lunar measurements. They noted the challenges in normalizing lunar measurements caused by the Moon’s non-uniform surface. To address this, the team is developing a local normalization method to derive atmospheric transmissions from signals detected within each lunar event, enabling accurate aerosol retrieval. They reported that preliminary results are promising as evidenced by comparison with transmission product from collocated solar events – see Figure 2. This new processing will enrich the spatial and temporal coverage of SAGE III/ISS aerosol product by involving lunar events.
Figure 2. Preliminary results of the transmission derived from SAGE III/ISS lunar measurements (y-axis) and its comparison with collocated SAGE III/ISS solar measurements (x-axis). The comparisons are presented in two ways, one for the same wavelength color-coded by altitude [left] and another at the same altitude color-coded for the different wavelengths [right]. The results are for June 2017 through Novembe 2022, and the collocation criteria requires latitude separation smaller than 1˚ and observation times within 10 days. Note that if the transmission at any wavelength or altitude is smaller than 0.005, it is removed from the comparison for quality assurance purpose. Figure Credit: Xi Chen, University of Iowa Adam Pastorek and Peter Bernath [both Old Dominion University] discussed the properties of stratospheric SO42- aerosols from the infrared transmission spectra of Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) – flying on the Canadian SCISAT satellite since 2003 – and optical extinction from SAGE III/ISS. Based on ACE infrared measurements, the researchers derived an empirical formula to determine the composition (weight % H2SO4) of volcanic plumes. They combined coincident ACE and SAGE III/ISS measurements, using bimodal, log-normal size distributions to reproduce the observations – see Figure 3. They used ACE observations of sulfur dioxide (SO2) to study the creation and destruction of stratospheric SO42- aerosols.
Figure 3. Combined transmittance fitting results from Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment– Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS), and SAGE III/ISS measurements demonstrate an improved characterization of sulfate particle size distribution using bi-lognormal (mode) distributions compared to a single lognormal distribution. The panels on the left show the transmittance fitting [top] and residuals [bottom] for the mono-mode distribution model, while the center panels show the transmittance fitting [top] and residuals [bottom] for the bi-mode distribution. The right panel illustrates the contributions of fine and coarse mode components to the total transmittance. The measurements for this figure were taken approximately four months after the January 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption at a tangent height of 23.6 km (14.5 mi) in ACE occultation (ss100628), with coincident SAGE measurements from that same period (2022041609). Figure Credit: Adam Pastorek, adapted from a Figure in a paper published in Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer in January 2024. Sean Davis [NOAA, Chemistry Science Lab] presented on his research aimed at constraining decadal variability and assessing trends in stratospheric composition and tropospheric circulation using SAGE III/ISS and complementary satellite data sets. The team continues to include the SAGE water vapor and O3 products in the Stratospheric Water and OzOne Satellite Homogenized (SWOOSH) dataset. Davis also highlighted preliminary work evaluating V6 data in comparison to the former V5.3. He discussed line-of-sight, transmission-based filtering for O3 profiles and O3 diurnal variability corrections.
Lars Kalnaajs [University of Colorado, Boulder] presented results from two studies of particle size distributions from SAGE aerosol extinction data. Kalnaajs summarized results from two papers in review. His team paired the Optical Particle Counter collected from balloon platforms with SAGE II data to derive the parameters for bi-mode aerosol size distribution. They also presented the work of using SAGE III extinction ratios, 448/756 versus 1544/756, to derive monomodal lognormal size distribution, which allows them to compute distribution moments and compare these to in situ measurements taken over Sweden in the winters of 2002 and 2004.
Anne Thompson [GSFC, emeritus] presented on the Southern Hemisphere Additional Ozonesondes (SHADOZ) network and how that SHADOZ data are a satellite validation standard and can also be used to assess ozone trends in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Thompson emphasized that SHADOZ O3 profiles are the only standard process to obtain measurements from surface to mid-stratosphere at 100–150 m (328–492 ft) resolution. Such measurements are essential to validate O3 measurements from SAGE-derived products. She also presented an update on the free tropospheric and lowermost stratospheric (LMS) O3 trends from eight equatorial SHADOZ sites. Newer calculations confirm that an apparent LMS seasonal decline (July–September) is associated with a roughly 100 m (328 ft) upward trend in tropopause height.
DAY TWO
The second day started with Jack Kaye [NASA Earth Science Division—Associate Director for Research for the Earth Science Division, emeritus as of April 30, 2025] providing a historic perspective on SAGE and comments on its context within NASA’s overall Earth science program. A technical session was held with three invited presentations, followed by three additional sessions where science team members presented their research on trace gas studies, including data product calibration and validation. The meeting concluded with updates from the SAGE project team on the SAGE III/ISS website and ongoing operations aboard the ISS. In his presentation, Kaye shared about his past involvement with the SAGE program and his perspective on its future in the context of flight missions for Earth observations.
Invited Presentations on Advanced Modeling and New Satellite Mission For UTS
Steven Pawson [GSFC] presented on the comprehensive modeling and analysis capabilities of
Upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) dynamics and composition in the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model Pawson discussed the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office’s (GMAO) recent support for the Asian summer monsoon Chemical and CLimate Impact Project (ACCLIP) mission and the trend analysis of stratospheric O3. He also discussed future plans for GMAO, including improving the representation of water vapor in UTS through data assimilation and increasing horizontal and vertical resolution in the GEOS model.
Kostas Tsigaridis [Columbia University] presented recent research on the composition and climate impacts of increasing launches to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Assuming that there are 10,000 launches per year and all launches use liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a propellant, the team compiled launch-related emission inventories and highlighted key uncertainties that could significantly affect climate predictions – particularly the impact black carbon has on the radiative balance and heterogeneous chemistry of the UTS. In addition, water vapor was found to contribute to the heating of the stratosphere and to a nontrivial amount of O3 depletion – 13 Dobson units (DU) on the global mean.
Adam Bourassa [University of Saskatchewan, Canada] introduced the satellite mission for High-altitude Aerosol, Water vapor, and Clouds (HAWC), planned as the Canadian contribution to the NASA Atmosphere Observing System (AOS) for launch in 2031 – a key component in NASA’s next generation Earth System Observatory. Bourassa highlighted the three Canadian instruments, which include limb profilers for water vapor and aerosol in the UTS and a far infrared imaging radiometer for ice cloud microphysics and radiative budget closure. He discussed instrument requirements and development progress as well as results from recent sub-orbital testing of prototypes on the NASA Earth Resources (ER)-2 and stratospheric balloons.
Trace Gases
Brian Soden [University of Miami] presented a new project that will use SAGE data to constrain climate sensitivity in climate models. Climate models differ substantially in their calculation of the radiative forcing from carbon dioxide (CO2), and these intermodel differences have remained largely unchanged for several decades. Soden highlighted the role of stratospheric temperature in modulating the radiative forcing from CO2. He explained that models that simulate a cooler stratosphere simulate a larger radiative forcing for the same change in CO2 compared to models that posit a warmer stratosphere. He added that determining the cause of the model biases in stratospheric temperature – particularly the role of water vapor in driving this intermodel spread – is an area of active research.
Ray Wang [Georgia Institute of Technology] compared the uncertainty analysis of SAGE III retrieved O3 and water vapor data in V5.3 to the same parameters in V6.0. He then compared the SAGE III data to the correlative measurements from other platforms. For O3, the differences between SAGE and measurements from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) on NASA’s Aura platform are less than 5% in the stratosphere. SAGE V6.0 ozone values are systematically about 1–2% higher than those from V5.3 O3 – due to changes in how the O3 cross-section is represented in each version. For water vapor, SAGE data agree with MLS and Frost Point Hygrometer (FPH) data within 5%. Wang showed some differences between SAGE water vapor data retrievals using V5.3 and the same data obtained using version 6.0. He also said that a two-dimensional (i.e., spatial and temporal) regression model can be used to minimize sampling bias in climatology derived from non-uniform satellite measurements – ensuring more accurate representation of long-term trends.
Emma Knowland [GSFC/Morgan State University, Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research II (GESTAR II), now NASA HQ—SAGE III/ISS Program Scientist] discussed the progress of assimilating SAGE III water vapor data product into NASA’s GEOS re-analysis. Her team’s work demonstrated that while the number of solar occultation observations a day from SAGE III/ISS is about 1% of the total number of profiles observed globally by MLS, the chemical timescales of water vapor in the lower stratosphere are long enough that the SAGE III/ISS data can provide a valuable constraint on GEOS re-analysis, especially in the absence of MLS data – see Figure 4.
Figure 4. Hovmöller diagrams of the vertical distribution of 15°S–15°N average water vapor anomalies in upper troposphere–stratosphere with water vapor relaxed to a climatology [top left] and from data assimilation of SAGE III/ISS water vapor into the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model [bottom left]. Scatter plots show water vapor mixing ratios (y-axis) with [top right] and without [bottom right] data assimilation compared independent observations from the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment – Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS) data (x-axis). The ACE–FTS data were not used in data assimilation. This shows that data assimilation of SAGE data improves the agreement with ACE-FTS – especially in the lower stratosphere (400 to 500 K). Figure Credit: Emma Knowland [NASA] Melody Avery [University of Colorado, Boulder] discussed using SAGE data and data from the Cloud–Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Projection (CALIOP) instrument (on the former Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) mission) to study thin clouds and aerosol distributions in the tropical tropopause region (TTL). Avery explained that these distributions from V5.3 of SAGE-III/ISS and V5.41 of CALIOP are shown to agree well, and CALIOP observations of cloud frequency are shown to be a sensitive metric for defining the width of the Hadley Cell near the tropical tropopause. Combining SAGE and CALIOP data produced a longer timescale to constrain and evaluate climate models that currently do not agree on how the tropical width at this altitude varies. They found that results derived using SAGE V6.0 versus V5.3 differ on the order of 2% in the TTL region.
Pamela Wales [GESTAR II] introduced a new project that leverages SAGE III/ISS measurements to explore diurnal characteristics of O3 and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in GEOS model products. Her team is exploring potentially using a GEOS reanalysis of stratospheric trace gases collected by MLS as a transfer standard to evaluate the consistency between the SAGE III/ISS solar and the less frequently measured lunar retrieval. They are also assessing uncertainties in stratospheric NO2 in the GEOS Composition Forecast (GEOS-CF) model using SAGE III/ISS and complementary satellite instruments. This work will inform how effectively GEOS-CF can be used in air quality studies to remove the stratospheric signal from column retrievals of NO2.
Luis Millán [JPL] presented work on the change of stratospheric water vapor mass after the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai (Hunga) volcano eruption in 2022. Millán found an increase (~10%) of total stratospheric water vapor – a potent greenhouse gas. Given their advanced age, MLS, ACE-FTS, and the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument on NASA’s Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere, Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) mission (Heliosphere Division), are nearing the end of their missions, leaving SAGE III/ISS as the primary instrument for monitoring the plume’s evolution. Millán discussed how the SAGE III/ISS measurements might be sufficient to observe the dispersion of the excess Hunga water vapor from stratosphere in coming years. He also discussed a 39-year plus record of stratospheric water vapor mass using the overlapping periods between SAGE II, MLS, and SAGE III/ISS.
Ryan Stauffer [GSFC] presented the operation and outcomes of the Ticosonde balloon-borne O3 and water vapor sonde project in San Jose, Costa Rica. Ongoing since July 2005, Ticosonde has collected over 700 O3 profiles and 270 water vapor profiles for climate and pollution studies and satellite validation. Because Ticosonde is the only long-term water vapor sonde station in the tropics, the stratospheric water vapor data is vital for validation of SAGE-III/ISS and MLS profiles. Ticosonde has been used to verify the success of updated water vapor retrieval algorithms for both instruments – which now agree within a few percent up to 25 km (15 mi) altitude.
Natalya Kramarova [GSFC] showed the comparison of O3 profile retrieved from SAGE III with those derived from the OMPS-LP sensor – which is part of OMPS on NOAA-21 – from February 2023–June 2024. Diurnal corrections using the Goddard Diurnal Ozone Climatology (which is described in a 2020 article in Atmospheric Measurement Techniques) is applied to account for differences in measurement times between SAGE III’s sunrise or sunset observations and NOAA-21 LP’s midday measurements. Once the time correction is made, results show good agreement between the two instruments in depicting vertical ozone distribution across different geographical regions (e.g., tropics and mid-latitudes) and under various conditions (e.g., near the edge of the Antarctic O3 hole in October 2023). The mean biases between NOAA-21 LP and SAGE III are typically within ±5% between ~18–45 km (11–28 mi).
Project Team and Operations Highlights
Michael Heitz [LaRC] showed that V5.3 and previous versions of the SAGE III/ISS data product had a noticeable – and unphysical – dip in the retrieved aerosol extinction between 520–676 nm. This dip has been referred to as the aerosol “seagull.” However, adoption of a new absorption cross-section database into the V6.0 algorithm reduced the aerosol seagull effect significantly. Kevin Leavor [LaRC] presented new developments for the SAGE III/ISS quick look website. Mary Cate McKee [LaRC] introduced a new feature of the quick look website that showcases comparisons of O3 and water vapor sonde data at over 40 stations. Sonde data is sourced from the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC), GSFC’s SHADOZ, and the World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Centre (WOUDC). Heitz explained that the comparison plots are updated continuously as new coincidences occur, providing the community with valuable insight to the quality of SAGE III/ISS data relative to this external network of ground stations. Future additions to the website include aerosol and lidar comparisons, additional plot statistics, and comparisons with novel homogenized datasets.
Returning to a topic discussed in Jamie Nehrir’s presentation, Charles Hill [LaRC] showed that the SAGE III Disturbance Monitoring Package (DMP) correction to the data product – which was implemented beginning with V5.3 – has significantly reduced the product uncertainties caused by ISS vibrations. Approximately 7% of SAGE III occultation events are highly disturbed by mechanical vibrations, and the DMP correction has improved pointing registrations in these events significantly. The DMP’s x-axis gyroscope failed on August 8, 2023 – but this loss did not significantly affect the DMP correction to scan plane elevation. Future possible losses of either the y- or z-axes will end active correction of ISS disturbances.
Conclusion
Jun Wang, David Flittner, and Richard Eckman led the closing discussion that highlighted the growing interest in atmospheric composition change – particularly due to emissions from large wildfires and volcanic eruptions in recent years. This increasing interest contrasts with the declining availability of observational data from the upper troposphere, following the retirement of CALIPSO in late 2023 and the planned decommissioning of Aura’s aging limb instruments in 2026. This gap underscores the critical importance of SAGE III/ISS data – not only for current UTS research but also for the next 5–7 years, during which no new limb measurements are planned.
SAGE III/ISS remains essential for profiling key atmospheric constituents, including water vapor, aerosols, O₃, and NO₂. The long-term, consistent data record provided by the SAGE series of instruments since the late 1970s – including SAGE III/ISS since 2017 – has been invaluable for studying past and future changes in atmospheric composition within the UTS. To further support research and applications of SAGE data products, participants discussed the possibility of proposing a special collection of articles in AGU journals.
Overall, the 2024 SAGE III/ISS meeting was a success. Participants received valuable updates on the status of SAGE III/ISS operations, data product calibration and validation, and new developments. The meeting also showcased the collective expertise and excellence in driving advancements in UTS research, from climate change studies to data assimilation for chemistry transport models and contributions to multi-sensor data fusion.
Jun Wang
University of Iowa
jun-wang-1@uiowa.edu
David Flittner
Langley Research Center
david.e.flittner@nasa.gov
Richard Eckman
NASA Langley Research Center
richard.s.eckman@nasa.gov
Emma Knowland
NASA Headquarters
k.e.knowland@nasa.gov
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Last Updated May 26, 2025 Related Terms
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