Architecture Study

The primary goal of the architecture study is to determine the extent to which any given architecture meets all, most, or some of the objectives derived from these priorities within the budget and schedule constraints recommended in the Decadal Survey.  

All observational architecture concepts and measurement capabilities achieving performance parameters within the ranges in this table are considered. An observational system can include any combination of a program of record, space and/or airborne systems.

Performance ParametersSpectral RangeSpectralGSDRevisitCoverageLocal Time for Acquisition
VSWIR 0.35 or 0.4 to 2.5µm Resolution: 10nm or better Coverage: Continuous SNR:VNIR: > 400 SWIR: > 250 30-45 meters 2-16 days Global 10:30am to 1:30pm
TIR 8 to 12µm, 3 to 5µm Bands: > 5 desired NEdT: < 0.2 K 40-60 meters 1-7 days Global Can vary across the diurnal cycle

This process will take advantage of the concurrent design capabilities held within the SBG Study team participants. Capabilities such as the ARC Mission Design Center, the GSFC Integrated Design Center, the LaRC Engineering Design Studio, MSFC Advanced Concepts Office, and the JPL Innovation Foundry have a track record of enabling architectural trade studies and cost effective point solutions, designed to onramp to NASA NPR-7120.5E MCR program milestones.

In collaboration with the Research and Applications Team, the Architecture Formulation team held a kick-off workshop that identifies all the assignments needed to identify innovation and technology opportunities, synergies with other missions, and enabling partnerships. The Architecture Formulation team will be comprised of systems engineers and subject matter experts spanning the various NASA concurrent engineering design teams. Task assignments will be distributed amongst individuals and centers, based on subject matter expertise and center capabilities. These will then become the inputs in constructing multiple self-consistent architectures.