Mission OverviewThe ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) will measure the temperature of plants and use that information to better understand how much water plants need and how they respond to stress.ECOSTRESS will address three overarching science questions:-How is the terrestrial biosphere responding to changes in water availability?-How do changes in diurnal vegetation water stress impact the global carbon cycle?-Can agricultural vulnerability be reduced through advanced monitoring of agricultural water consumptive use and improved drought estimation?The ECOSTRESS mission will answer these questions by accurately measuring the temperature of plants. Plants regulate their temperature by releasing water through tiny pores on their leaves called stomata. If they have sufficient water they can maintain their temperature but if there is insufficient water their temperatures rise and this temperature rise can be measured with a sensor in space. ECOSTRESS will use a multispectral thermal infrared radiometer to measure the surface temperature. The radiometer that will be delivered to Houston for deployment on the International Space Station in 2018. The radiometer will acquire the most detailed temperature images of the surface ever acquired from space and will be able to measure the temperature of an individual farmers field.InstrumentThe ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) will be implemented by placing the existing space-ready Prototype HyspIRI Thermal Infrared Radiometer (PHyTIR) on the International Space Station (ISS) and using it to gather the measurements needed to address the science goals and objectives. PHyTIR was developed under the Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) Instrument Incubator Program (IIP). From the ISS, PHyTIR will provide data with 38-m in-track by 69-m cross-track spatial resolution (science requirement is 100 m) and predicted temperature sensitivity of ≤0.1 K (science requirement is 0.3 K). The ISS orbit allows excellent coverage of the selected targets including diurnal coverage. The existing hardware was developed to reduce the cost and risk for the thermal infrared radiometer on the future Hyperspectral Infrared Imager (HyspIRI) mission, A double-sided scan mirror, rotating at a constant 23.3 rpm, allows the telescope to view a 51°-wide nadir cross-track swath as well as two internal blackbody calibration targets every 1.29 seconds (Note that the two-sided mirror rotating at 23.3 rpm provides 46.6 sweeps per minute). The optical signal is focused by a telescope onto the 60 K focal plane containing a custom 13.2-μm-cutoff mercury-cadmium-telluride (MCT) infrared detector array. Spectral filters on the focal plane define 5 spectral bands in the 8-12.5 μm range and an additional band at 1.6 um for geolocation and cloud detection (six bands total). The focal plane is cooled by two commercial Thales cryocoolers. Electronics consist of six build-to-print and four commercial boards. Heat rejection for the ECOSTRESS cryocoolers and electronics is provided by the cooling fluid loop on the ISS Japanese Experiment Module External Facility (JEM-EF). ECOSTRESS can fit any of the nine JEM-EF payload locations but will be deployed at Site 10 (one of the two end locations).
ECOSTRESS can fit any of the nine JEM-EF payload locations but will be deployed at Site 10 (one of the two end locations).
Curious...The press release saysQuoteECOSTRESS can fit any of the nine JEM-EF payload locations but will be deployed at Site 10 (one of the two end locations).However, to scan cross track, the axis of rotation of the two sided scan mirror has to be in the short dimension.This is as it is shown in several documents including Slide 6 of this update.If ECOSTRESS was placed on one of the seven forward or back edge position it would scan along track, which wouldn't work.Why make such a false claim? It's not necessary or even helpful. ECOSTRESS will work well at its intended site 10 and it will be mounted there. edit: Perhaps "fits" is mechanical. It "fits" in any of the 9, but will only "work" in one of the 2 end sites.
The ECOSTRESS radiometer will be deployed on International Space Station (ISS) on the Japanese Experiment Module - External Facility (JEM-EF) site 10. At this location, the radiometer scan is perpendicular to the ISS velocity
What was the source for the LEE being in the trunk for this mission? I hadn't heard that until very recently. I was expecting the MISSEE-FF to be remanifested on this mission since they missed being ready in time for CRS-13. I'm not surprised that they would get bumped, the new LEE ORU is higher priority. But, now I'm wondering how long MISSEE-FF will end up having to wait.
Quote from: deruch on 01/22/2018 01:27 pmWhat was the source for the LEE being in the trunk for this mission? I hadn't heard that until very recently. I was expecting the MISSEE-FF to be remanifested on this mission since they missed being ready in time for CRS-13. I'm not surprised that they would get bumped, the new LEE ORU is higher priority. But, now I'm wondering how long MISSEE-FF will end up having to wait.ISS FPIP's (I did actually find a publicly released snippet of one from October mentioning a spare LEE transfer with CRS-15, in addition to what's in L2). Of course we know those can always change but until we hear otherwise I'm assuming that's the plan.
Is it known whether CRS-15 will be a (new?) block 5 or (reused) block 4 core?Also, the top post says CRS-15 will fly from SLC-40, but the Manifest thread says LC-39A...
I can remember a discussion here that NASA requires a special procedure to accept a flight proven core. Which probably means additional paperwork and unique checks. The conclusion seemed to be at that time that only cores for previous CRS missions are accepted to launching new CRS flights.
Quote from: Semmel on 03/01/2018 08:56 amI can remember a discussion here that NASA requires a special procedure to accept a flight proven core. Which probably means additional paperwork and unique checks. The conclusion seemed to be at that time that only cores for previous CRS missions are accepted to launching new CRS flights.No, per NASA it was just limited to cores from LEO missions, not explicitly previous CRS missions. But, that does limit the general pool of acceptable preflown cores. And since they seem not to want to ship recovered cores around if they don't have to, it's further reduced by not including any LEO launches out of Vandenberg. So, in the end, they are mostly left with CRS cores being acceptable. Plus, it may be a minor advantage that they already compiled necessary documentation about the initial production and first use for NASA, so using a former CRS core may reduce some paperwork.
SpaceX filed the first FCC permit for the CRS-15 launch, still showing a NET of June 9.
ECOSTRESS arrived at KSC recently, here it is undergoing arrival checkouts. Caption still maintains a launch in June 2018 (it's a PAO-sanctioned caption, but hey).
Quote from: vaporcobra on 04/14/2018 07:52 amECOSTRESS arrived at KSC recently, here it is undergoing arrival checkouts. Caption still maintains a launch in June 2018 (it's a PAO-sanctioned caption, but hey). Great imageIs that shiny machined aluminum object with the handles a "connector saver / shorting plug" for the JEM attachment interface?