Assessment of Commercial Space Platforms for Earth Science Instruments: Report Series—Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space (2023)
Chapter: Appendix A: Statement of Task
A
Statement of Task
NASA requests that the Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine assess multi-user commercial space platforms as potential missions of opportunity for Earth science instruments. The analysis should:
- Consider a notional platform in a Sun-synchronous orbit (nominally 600–800 km) capable of hosting 20 or more instruments; and
- Consider the impacts on NASA’s ability to achieve Recommendation 3.2 from the 2017 decadal survey regarding the recommended additional observations classified within the Designated Observables, Earth System Explorer, Incubation, and Earth Venture elements, as described in Table 3.3, Observing System Priorities.
Potential impacts on the existing Program of Record are not within the scope of this assessment; however, the committee may comment in general terms on considerations for the use of the notional platform versus existing plans to accomplish survey priorities. The committee may also comment on how the use of the notional platform would compare with the deployment of its instrument complement via multiple free-flyers in different orbits, the impacts of possible consolidation of a platform at a single nodal crossing time, and how well any single orbit could satisfy the survey priorities.
