One of the new thrusts of the Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) Program is the New Observing Strategy (NOS) thrust. Its goal is to provide a framework for identifying technology advances needed to exploit newly available observational capabilities, particularly to enable the development of the information technologies needed to support planning, evaluating, implementing, and operating dynamic, multi-element sets of observing assets. In this paper, we will introduce relevant NOS terminology and some key concepts before describing the objectives, driving factors and technology goals of this new thrust

Cole, Marjorie C.

Le Moigne, Jacqueline

Little, Michael M.

NASA Technical Reports Server

NEW OBSERVING STRATEGY (NOS) FOR FUTURE EARTH SCIENCE MISSIONS 
 
Jacqueline Le Moigne, Michael M. Little, Marjorie C. Cole 
 
NASA Earth Science Technology Office 
Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters 
 
ABSTRACT 
 
One of the new thrusts of the Earth Science Technology 
Office (ESTO) Advanced Information Systems 
Technology (AIST) Program is the New Observing 
Strategy (NOS) thrust. Its goal is to provide a framework 
for identifying technology advances needed to exploit 
newly available observational capabilities, particularly to 
enable the development of the information technologies 
needed to support planning, evaluating, implementing, and 
operating dynamic, multi-element sets of observing assets. 
In this paper, we will introduce relevant NOS terminology 
and some key concepts before describing the objectives, 
driving factors and technology goals of this new thrust.  
 
Index Terms— Distributed Spacecraft Missions 
(DSM), Constellations, SensorWebs, Earth Science 
missions. 
 
1. INTRODUCTION 
The Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) 
Program is part of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate 
(SMD) Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO).  Its goal 
is not only to reduce the risk, cost, size and development 
time of future Earth Science missions and their 
corresponding information systems and to increase the use 
of Earth Science data, but also to enable new observation 
measurements and information products. In particular, 
with the emergence of new sources of observational data, 
including high-quality science instruments on CubeSats 
and SmallSats, and the development of commercial space 
platforms, phenomena that previously could not have been 
studied or would have been too expensive to study, can 
now be observed through a novel variety of measurements. 
Because of their relatively low cost and easy access to 
space these research instruments, hosted on small 
spacecraft and commercial satellites, enable observing 
strategies using multiple or even large numbers of similar 
platforms, yielding high revisit rates or multi- angle 
observations of the same phenomenon. In addition, the 
ability to point instruments, coupled with new high-
performance onboard processing capabilities, enables 
high-density observations for specific phenomena of 
interest instead of operating in a fixed pattern. This new 
type of observation strategy will involve the coordination 
and integration of various instruments located at different 
vantage points from NASA and non-NASA sources, 
including in orbit, airborne and even in-situ sensors to 
create a more dynamic and complete picture of a natural 
physical process. 
In this paper, we will introduce relevant NOS terminology 
and some key concepts before describing the objectives, 
driving factors and some of the technology capabilities 
required to make this new thrust a reality. 
 
 
2.  NEW OBSERVING STRATEGY DEFINITIONS, 
DRIVERS AND CONCEPTS 
Generally, a New Observing Strategy is defined as: 
• Multi-sensor nodes producing measurements 
integrated from multiple vantage points and in 
multiple dimensions (spatial, spectral, temporal, 
radiometric) 
• Providing a unified picture of the physical process or 
natural phenomenon  
These multiple (homogeneous or heterogeneous) nodes can 
be distributed in orbit within an actual or virtual distributed 
mission, with large or smaller spacecraft, or/and on aerial 
platforms and/or in-situ. 
In order to further introduce NOS concepts, a few 
definitions need to be introduced:  
– A “Distributed Spacecraft Mission (DSM)” is a mission 
that involves multiple spacecraft to achieve one or more 
common goals. A DSM can be defined from inception and 
we call it a “Constellation” (see below), or it can become a 
DSM after the fact, in which case we will call it an “ad-
hoc” DSM or a “Virtual” mission. For all these types of 
DSM, we do not assume the spacecraft to be of any specific 
sizes, i.e., we do not restrict this study to CubeSats or 
SmallSats, although lowering cost considerations will 
involve choosing smaller spacecraft. Throughout this 
paper, a reference to a “CubeSat” is the class of satellites 
smaller than 10 kgs, “MicroSat” between 10 and100 kg and 
“MiniSat” from 100 to 180 kg. 
– A “Constellation” is a space mission that, beginning with 
its inception, is composed of two or more spacecraft that 
are placed into specific orbit(s) for the purpose of serving 
a common objective (e.g., CYGNSS, TROPICS, Iridium). 
A constellation can be Homogeneous or Heterogeneous. It 
is called homogeneous if all  member spacecraft employ 
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20190028350 2019-09-26T20:08:09+00:00Z
functional identical bus, payload, and operational 
characteristics; heterogeneous, if not. 
– An “Intelligent and Collaborative Constellation (ICC)” 
is a constellation that uses onboard intelligence to perceive 
its environment, takes actions that maximizes its chances 
of success in creating coordinated observations; it can 
potentially learn from its experiences. An ICC involves the 
combination of: 
• Real-time data understanding 
• Situational awareness  
• Problem solving 
• Planning and learning from experience 
• Communications and cooperation between 
multiple spacecraft. 
– A “SensorWeb” is a distributed system of sensing nodes 
(space, air or ground) that are interconnected by a 
communications fabric and that function as a single, highly 
coordinated, virtual instrument. It semi- or - autonomously 
detects and dynamically reacts to events, measurements, 
and other information from constituent sensing nodes and 
from external nodes (e.g., predictive models) by modifying 
its observing state so as to optimize mission information 
return. (Note: a “communications fabric” is a 
communications infrastructure that permits nodes to 
transmit and receive data between one another) (e.g., EO-
1 SensorWeb 3G) [Tal05, Man10]. 
Some of NOS drivers are the following: 
• Respond to the requirement of measurement-based 
concept defined in the latest 2017 Earth Science 
Decadal Survey. NOS will enable missions to: 
– Take advantage of multiple modes (wavelengths 
and spatial, spectral, temporal resolutions), 
multiple vantage points, etc. 
– Create some transparent connections between 
science models and data acquisition. 
– Reduce costs: large flagship missions could be 
designed only when needed, after first leveraging 
existing government and commercial assets, 
ground sensors, Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs), 
balloons, instruments on the International Space 
Station (ISS) and various SmallSats and 
CubeSats. 
• Create an “internet” of sensor data, from models up to 
in-orbit assets, via all intermediate levels. It would: 
– Link Earth and future space Internets to Earth 
Science sensor nodes 
– Link to other space networks (e.g., DARPA 
Blackjack) 
– Present mission interaction and partnerships with 
industry and academia. 
– Provide interoperability and accessibility to large 
flagship missions 
– Provide future links between an Earth SensorWeb 
(SW) to an Helio SW to a Lunar SW to a Martian 
SW, etc. 
• Create an analog-like system to test future lunar, Mars 
or deep-space SensorWebs and constellations 
• Facilitate societal applications by: 
– Responding quickly and on-demand to 
unexpected events (hurricanes, volcanoes, etc.) 
– Leveraging “out of network” assets for 
emergencies (DOD-, NOAA-, Foreign-, etc.). 
An example of an NOS or SensorWeb concept is illustrated 
in Figure 1, in which an event of interest, for example a 
storm, is observed collaboratively with a variety of multi-
vantage point heterogeneous sensors interacting with the 
models and the end users. 
 
Figure 1 – Example of a New Observing Strategy for 
Acquiring Real-Time and Coordinated Observations of 
an Event of Interest 
 
Overall, this type of strategy will improve our response to 
the needs of various Earth Science domains; e.g., for 
hydrology, studying river flow and flooding, 3D snow fall 
and aquifer degradation, for cryospheric studies in glacier 
and sea ice changes, for urban air quality events, for 
biodiversity studying migrations, invasive species and 
transient spring phenomena, and for solid Earth Interior 
studying landslides, plate movement, volcanic activity and 
interior magma movement. 
Additional NOS benefits to Earth Science users include the 
possibilities of reconfiguring groups of instruments to 
provide various measurements and customized products or 
of performing rapid prototyping of new products within 
hours.  Ultimately increasing science timeliness, science 
knowledge and science application. 
 
 
3. NEW OBSERVING STRATEGIES REQUIRED 
CAPABILITIES 
In order to enable the New Observing Strategy described 
in Section 2, we identified 6 software technology areas 
corresponding to different steps of the Earth observation 
lifecycle: 
1. Concepts Design: 
a. Develop tools for pre-Phase A/Phase A 
constellation mission design, optimizing various 
constellation variables such as number of 
spacecraft, number of orbiting planes, altitude, 
inclination, sensor characteristics, etc., as a 
function of the observation requirements. 
b. Tools for measurement observations concept 
design, combining existing assets with or 
without adding new nodes. 
2. NOS Systems Development and Validation: 
a. Definition of ontologies; extension of existing 
and development of new standards, e.g., the 
Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensor 
Web Enablement (SEW) and Swath Coverage 
standards [Per13, Sim18] 
b. Development of testbeds and testing 
frameworks, e.g., hardware-in-the-loop systems 
and multi-node software testbeds. 
3. Inter-Nodes Communications: 
a. Development of algorithms and protocols for 
inter-spacecraft communications and 
coordination. 
b. Cybersecurity 
c. Development of algorithms and protocols for 
science models to query and target sensors. 
4. Operations: 
a. Algorithms for autonomous sensing and control. 
b. Algorithms for Coordinated pointing and 
measurement acquisition. 
5. Onboard Intelligence: 
a. Onboard recognition of events of interest 
b. Onboard goal-oriented planning and scheduling 
6. Ground Data Processing: 
a. Multi-node mission operation centers and ground 
data systems 
b. Solutions for multi-node/SensorWeb “Big Data” 
operations challenge 
7. Science Data Processing 
a. Scalable data management for large multi-source 
science data 
b. High accuracy multi-platform calibration and 
registration  
c. Integration and fusion of disparate multi-source 
data. 
Figure 2 gives a graphical representation of these NOS 
capability areas. 
 
 
4. CONCLUSION 
This paper describes a new thrust in NASA Earth Science 
Advanced Information Systems Technology Program, 
namely the New Observing Strategy (NOS) thrust. It 
encompasses the use of multi-node sensor data 
coordination and integration for providing a multi-vantage, 
multi-resolution picture of a Science phenomenon. 
Definitions, driving factors, benefits, example concepts 
and required software technologies were highlighted. More 
details will be presented at the conference. 
  
 
Figure 2 – New Observing Strategy Lifecycle Software 
Technology Capabilities 
 
 
5. REFERENCES 
[DAR18] DARPA Tactical Technology Office, “Broad 
Agency Announcement: BackJack,” 
https://www.darpa.mil/attachments/HR001118
S0032-Amendment-01.pdf, May 2018. 
 [Man10] D. Mandl et al, “SensorWeb 3G: Extending On-
Orbit Sensor Capabilities to Enable Near 
Realtime User Configurability,” 2010Earth 
Science Technology Forum (ESTF), Arlington, 
VA, June 2010. 
[Per13] G. Percivall (Ed.), “Open Geospatial 
Consortium (OGC) Sensor Web Enablement 
(SWE) Implementation Maturity Engineering 
Report,” www.opengisl.net/doc/er/swe-
maturity, 2013. 
[Sim18] I. Simonis and S. Serich, “Standardized Models 
and Services to Simplify Exploring Swath Data 
in GIS,” American Geophysical Union (AGU), 
Fall Meeting, Washington D.C., Dec. 10-14, 
2018. 
[Tal05] S. J. Talabac, M.S. Seablom, G.J. Higgins and 
B.T. Womack, “A Sensor Web Observing 
System Simulator,” InfoTech@Aerospace, 
AIAA 2005-6945, Arlington, VA, September 
26-29, 2005. 
 
1New Observing Strategy (NOS)
for Future Earth Science Missions
Jacqueline Le Moigne
Michael M. Little
Marjorie C. Cole
NASA Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO)
Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) Program
2ESTO/AIST Objectives
• AIST
– Advanced Information Systems Technology Program
– Part of the Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) in 
NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD)
• AIST Goals
– Reduce the risk, cost, size, and development time of 
Earth Science Division (ESD) space-based and 
ground-based information systems; 
– Increase the accessibility and utility of science data; 
and 
– Enable new observation measurements and 
information products.
3Current Observing Strategy
4New Observing Strategies (NOS)
New Observing Strategies: 
• Multiple collaborative sensor nodes producing measurements integrated from 
multiple vantage points and in multiple dimensions (spatial, spectral, temporal, 
radiometric)
• Provide a dynamic and more complete picture of physical processes or natural 
phenomena 
5NOS Environment
NOS will:
• Utilize Distributed 
Spacecraft Missions (DSM), 
i.e., missions that involve 
multiple spacecraft to achieve 
one or more common goals.
• Coordinate Space 
Measurements with Aerial 
and Ground Measurements.
Technology advances have created an opportunity to make new 
measurements and to continue others less costly, e.g., Smallsats equipped with 
science-quality instruments and Machine Learning techniques permit handling 
large volumes of data
NOS Goals: 
o Enable new science measurements 
o Improve existing science measurements
o Reduce cost of future NASA missions
6DSM/ICC and Sensor Webs
A special case of DSM is an Intelligent 
and Collaborative Constellation (ICC) 
which involves the combination of:
• Real-time data understanding
• Situational awareness 
• Problem solving
• Planning and learning from 
experience
• Communications and cooperation 
between multiple S/C.
A Sensor Web is a distributed system of sensing nodes (space, air or ground) that are 
interconnected by a communications fabric and that functions as a single, highly 
coordinated, virtual instrument. It semi- or - autonomously detects and dynamically 
reacts to events, measurements, and other information from constituent sensing nodes 
and from external nodes (e.g., predictive models) by modifying its observing state so as 
to optimize mission information return. (Note: a “communications fabric” is a 
communications infrastructure that permits nodes to transmit and receive data between 
one another) (e.g., EO-1 SensorWeb 3G). (Ref: Steve Talabac et al, 2003)
7NOS Drivers
• Respond to new Earth Science Decadal Survey – Measurement-based:
o Utilize multiple modes (wavelengths, spatial, temporal res), multiple vantage 
points, etc. to create a unified picture of a physical process or natural 
phenomenon
o Reduce costs: large flagship missions only when needed, leverage first existing 
govt and commercial assets, ground sensors, UAVs, balloons, instruments on 
ISS and CubeSats
• Create an “internet” of sensor data, from models up to in-orbit assets, via all 
intermediate levels:
o Link WWW to Space-Internet
o Link to other networks (e.g., DARPA Blackjack)
o Provide interoperatibility-accessibility with/to large flagship missions
o Future: link Earth SensorWeb to Helio SensorWeb to Lunar SensorWeb to 
Martian SensorWeb, etc.
• Create an analog-like system to test future lunar, Mars or deep-space sensor 
webs and constellations
• Societal Applications:
o Respond quickly, on-demand to unexpected events (hurricanes, volcanoes, 
etc.)
o Leverage “out of network” assets for emergencies (DOD-, NOAA-, Foreign-, 
etc.)
8NOS Enables Earth Science
• Improved Models that can Drive Observations
o Integrate models with in situ, airborne and orbital instruments
o Continuously running models direct the observation system in 
collecting data
o Real-time targeting of transient and transitional phenomena
o In situ triggering of observing system
o Train configuration prolonging observation of an event
o Viewing an event from multiple angles
o Autonomy in focusing the observational system on the event
• Coordinated arrays of sensors (station keeping)
o Reduce error with statistics
o Improve resolution with multi-node instruments in phased arrays
o Viewing of phenomenon from multiple angles and directions
9New Observing Strategies (NOS) – Measurement 
Acquisition (“Mission” Design or Model-Driven)
New 
Measurement 
Requirement/ 
Request
Are there 
existing assets 
satisfying this 
request?
YES
In-Situ Sensors
1 or Several 
Satellite Sensors 
SensorWeb if 
Several of them 
Used/Targeted in 
Coordination
NO
Should one or 
several existing 
asset be 
supplemented?
In-Situ Sensors
1 or Several 
Satellite Sensors 
SensorWeb Working 
TogetherYES UAV’s, Balloons, HAPS, 
ISS Instrument
NO
Should a new 
observing system be 
designed 
independently from 
existing assets?
YES
Monolithic 
Spacecraft
Distributed 
Spacecraft Mission
DSM with 
Coordinated 
Spacecraft/Sensors
Combination of Ground, Air 
and Space Instruments 
Working Together
SensorWeb
Working Together
10
Event of Interest 
observed by an 
existing space 
sensor or group of 
sensors (Ground, 
Air and/or Space)
New Observing Strategies (NOS) – Observation 
Planning or Rapid Response to Event of Interest 
This sensor or one of 
these sensor(s) is re-
targeted to ”follow” 
the event
Another space sensor 
or group of sensors 
is/are re-targeted to 
”follow” the event
A UAV(s) flight plan is 
being scheduled to 
complement space 
observations
Ground data are being 
acquired to 
complement space 
and air observations
Data and 
Information Fusion Replanning
11
• Hydrology
o River flow and Flooding 
o Snow fall in 3D
o Aquifer degradation
• Precipitation
o Extreme precipitation events
• Cryosphere
o Glaciers changes
o Sea Ice changes
• Urban Air Quality Events
o At a resolution (vertical and 
horizontal)
• Biodiversity
o Migrations 
o Invasive species
o Transient spring phenomena
• Solid Earth and Interior
o Landslides
o Plate movement
o Volcanic activity
o Interior magma movement
• Disaster Management
o Floods
o Earthquakes
o Volcanic Eruptions
NOS for Candidate Science Needs
12
Flood Monitoring with Space and Ground Sensors
1. A weather forecast or radar image indicates the potential for flood-
inducing precipitation.
2. This triggers a network of ground-based sensors measuring changes in 
overland flow to begin telemetering data at high frequency.
3. When the ground sensors detect change in overland flow, they trigger 
a series of additional measurements:
a. Space-based measurements, e.g., combination of space-based 
optical and radar, to determine surface water extent.
b. In-situ measurements taken by either USGS technicians or future 
in-situ or UAS-mounted sensors, to measure high water level.
c. A constellation of radar CubeSats is tasked to take targeted multi-
angle measurements
Example of an Hydrology Use Case
13
• Develop Various Use Cases Corresponding to Candidate 
Science and Application Needs
• Define Required NOS Technologies Required to Develop 
Future NOS Concepts
• Establish an NOS Testbed (NOS-T) to Test and Validate NOS 
Technologies and Concepts
• Transition and Infuse NOS Technologies in Future Earth 
Science Missions and Projects:
– Integration with Science and Forecast Models
– Augmentation of Spaceborne Missions with Ground and 
Airborne Sensors
– Definition of ISS Experiments or CubeSat Constellations
Next Steps – Future Directions


New Observing Strategy (NOS) for Future Earth Science Missions

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