David Crisp (OCO PI) and the OCO Team May 2003

1. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) Mission David Crisp (OCO PI) and the OCO Team May 2003

2. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) • OCO will make the first global measurements of CO2 from space with the precision and spatial resolution needed to quantify carbon sources and sinks • Acquires simultaneous spectroscopic observations of CO2 and O2 to estimate the column averaged CO2 dry air mole fraction, XCO2 • Precisions of 1 ppm on regional scales • Flies ahead of the A-Train constellation • 1:15 PM polar orbit, 16 day repeat cycle • Nominal launch date: 2007 • Team Members • Principle Investigator: Dr. David Crisp, JPL • Mission management: JPL • Instrument provider: Hamilton Sundstrand Sensor Systems, Pomona CA • Spacecraft provider: Orbital Sciences, Dulles VA Artist’s concept of OCO operating in nadir viewing mode. The ground track is highlighted on the surface.

3. An Uncertain Future:Where are the Missing Carbon Sinks? • Only half of the CO2 released into the atmosphere since 1970 years has remained there. The rest has been absorbed by land ecosystems and oceans • What are the relative roles of the oceans and land ecosystems in absorbing CO2? • Is there a northern hemisphere land sink? • What are the relative roles of North America and Eurasia • What controls carbon sinks? • Why does the atmospheric buildup vary with uniform emission rates? • How will sinks respond to climate change? • Reliable climate predictions require an improved understanding of CO2 sinks • Future atmospheric CO2 increases • Their contributions to global change

4. Monitoring CO2 from Space • High resolution spectra of reflected sunlight in near IR CO2 and O2 bands used to retrieve the column average CO2 dry air mole fraction, XCO2 • Column-integrated CO2 abundance • Maximum contribution from surface • Other data needed (provided by OCO) • Surface pressure, albedo, atmospheric temperature, water vapor, clouds, aerosols • Why high spectral resolution? • Lines must be resolved from the continuum to minimize systematic errors Clouds/Aerosols, Surface Pressure Column CO2 Clouds/Aerosols, H2O, Temperature

5. OCO Spatial Sampling Strategy • OCO is designed provide an accurate description of XCO2 on regional scales • Atmospheric motions mix CO2 over large areas as it is distributed through the column • Source/Sink model resolution limited to 1ox1o • OCO flies in the A-train, 15 minutes ahead of the Aqua platform • 1:15 PM equator crossing time yields same ground track as AQUA • Global coverage every 16 days • OCO samples at high spatial resolution • Nadir mode: 1 km x 1.5 km footprints • Isolates cloud-free scenes • Provides thousands of samples on regional scales • Glint Mode: High SNR over oceans • Target modes: Calibration

6. OCO Science Team David Crisp, PI Charles Miller, Deputy PI Education Gil Yanow Retrieval Algorithms D. O’Brien G. Stephens G. Toon Y. Yung Cal/Val F. Bréon L. Brown J. Burrows P. Ciais B. Connor C. Miller R. Salawitch S. Sander P. Tans P. Wennberg S. Wofsy Source/Sink Modeling R. Atlas S. Doney I. Fung D. Jacob S. Pawson J. Randerson P. Rayner Ground Data System Interface B. Sen

7. Export Issues • The OCO Mission includes no contributions of flight hardware from international partners • The spacecraft, includes commercially available hardware from foreign suppliers (e.g. a Danish star tracker) • This should should be covered by standard import/export procedures implemented by our spacecraft partner, Orbital Sciences Corporation • The OCO science team includes 6 non-U.S. members • Brian Connor (a U.S. citizen, working for NIWA in New Zealand) • Denis O’Brien (CSIRO, Australia) • Peter Rayner (CSIRO, Australia) • John Burrows (U. Bremen, Germany) • Francois-Marie Bréon (LSCE, France) • Philippe Ciais (LSCE, France) • These science team members will contribute significantly to • Instrument design and calibration (O’Brien) • Ground/aircraft Calibration and Validation activities (Connor, Bréon, Ciais) • Science algorithm development and implementation (Connor, O’Brien, Rayner, Burrows)

8. Technical Data Exports Required • Instrument design and calibration • O’Brien has extensive experience in the implementation, operations and analysis of data from instruments very similar to those being flown on OCO • John Burrows is the PI of the SCIAMACHY instrument on ESA’s Envisat • Their experience would be invaluable for • developing instrument requirements and test plans • Designing pre-launch calibration plans • Participating in the pre-launch calibration and test activities for the OCO instrument, and the analysis of the results from these tests • Ground/aircraft Calibration and Validation activities • Detailed insight into the OCO orbit ephemeris, observing strategy, and pointing capabilities (especially pointing) is needed to integrate the ground and aircraft observations with the spacecraft • Connor is coordinating the interface between the ground-based International Network for Detection of Stratospheric Changer (NDSC, a network of ground-base spectrometers used for OCO validation) • Bréon and Ciais will coordinate European aircraft programs that will contribute to the OCO calibration and calibration plans

9. Technical Data Exports Required (continued) • Science algorithm development and implementation • Connor and O’Brien could make significant contributions to the OCO retrieval algorithms if they have access to information about the instrument design and performance • Brian Connor is an expert in the retrieval of trace gas concentrations from remote sensing observations • Denis O’Brien is the world’s leading expert in the retrieval of surface pressures from Oxygen A-Band observations • John Burrows could adapt the algorithms that he developed to support the calibration, validation, and on-orbit operations of the Envisat SCIAMACHY instrument for OCO use if he has an adequate understanding of the OCO instrument design and performance • Peter Rayner requires insight into the spacecraft ephemeris, operating modes, and pointing capabilities to design algorithms needed to: • implement observation system simulation experiments to support instrument and mission design activities • to process OCO measurements to derive the distribution and efficiency of CO2 sources and sinks.

10. Does This Require an LoA or TAA? The following information is from the JPL International Affairs Web Site • Defense articles are those items which the State Department determines to have military aspects which predominate over civil aspects. This includes, among other things, all spacecraft and their components and attachments, tracking stations, specially designed ground support equipment, specially designed test equipment, etc. • Technical data under the ITAR includes information required for the development, design, manufacturing, production, assembly, operations, repair, testing, modification and maintenance of defense articles. • The transfer to a foreign person of export-controlled technical data, by any means, whether in the U.S. or abroad, is an export which requires either an exemption or a license. • A NASA exemption to transfer technical data to a foreign partner will be conferred if there is a signed NASA international agreement (Letter of Agreement [LOA] or Memorandum of Understanding [MOU]) and there is language citing the agreement in the Task Plan. • Technical assistance cannot be transferred with the NASA exemption under NASA international agreements. • In order to have foreign nationals involved in reviews (Preliminary Design Reviews [PDRs], Critical Design Reviews [CDRs], failure reviews, etc.), testing, integration, or to clarify requirements – we must apply for a State Department license called a "Technical Assistance Agreement" or TAA. This information suggests that OCO needs both LoA’s and a couple TAA’s

11. Project Status and Schedule Contract Start October 2, 2002 Project Kick-Off Meeting October 10, 2002 Risk Mitigation Phase begins October 10, 2002 System Requirement Review (SRR) June 30, 2003 Risk Mitigation Phase Final Review July 29, 2003 Preliminary Design Review (PDR) June, 2004 Critical Design Review (CDR) July, 2005 Launch July, 2007 Mission Check out (PLSR) One Month After Launch Mission Operations 24 Months