HBG_DRFP_80GSFC18R0078_ATTACHMENT_A_SOW.pdf

Hydrosphere, Biosphere, and Geophysics (HBG) Support Services

ATTACHMENT A

HYDROSPHERE, BIOSPHERE, and

GEOPHYSICS (HBG) SUPPORT SERVICES

DRAFT

STATEMENT OF WORK

June 7, 2018

I. SCOPE OF THE CONTRACT

The Hydrosphere, Biosphere, and Geophysics (HBG) sub-division in the Earth Sciences

Division (ESD) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) conducts science research that conceives, develops, and applies space, field-deployed (i.e. airborne and in situ) and laboratory based technologies and observations to address issues of importance to society, including water resources, land and ocean ecosystem health, global and regional sea level change, changes in the Earth’s cryosphere, gravity field, magnetic field, solid Earth, reference frames, and the effects of climate change on life on Earth. This contract is for support of a full range of science and research activities across the breadth of the various Laboratories that make up the HBG sub-division, including the

Cryospheric Sciences (Code 615), Ocean Ecology (Code 616), Hydrological Sciences

(Code 617), Biospheric Sciences (Code 618), Terrestrial Information Systems (Code 619) and Geodesy and Geophysics (Code 61A) Laboratories.

The principal missions of the various HBG Laboratories are summarized below:

- The Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory investigates Earth's ice cover and its connection to the rest of the climate system. Laboratory researchers combine comprehensive surface, aircraft, and satellite observations with sophisticated modeling to characterize the behavior of snow and ice and understand the processes at work.

- The Ocean Ecology Laboratory (OEL) conducts research on ocean biology and biogeochemistry through a combination of satellite and airborne remote sensing, modeling, and field and laboratory work. The OEL processes, calibrates, archives, and distributes data from several ocean color sensors. The OEL also collects filed data and develops protocols for the calibration and validation of orbital ocean color sensors. The

OEL hosts the Project Science and Ground Data Segment for the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission.

- The Hydrological Sciences Laboratory examines the role of water in the Earth system.

Laboratory researchers strive to better understand, quantify, and analyze the hydrological cycle and to measure hydrological processes in order to improve prediction of the response of global hydrology to anthropogenic and natural climate change.

- The Biospheric Sciences Laboratory studies terrestrial ecosystems and their interactions with the atmosphere using multiscale remote sensing, mathematical modeling, and advanced analytical techniques. This research allows Laboratory scientists to characterize and predict environmental changes due to natural and anthropogenic processes at local to global scales.

- The Terrestrial Information Systems Laboratory produces stable, well calibrated, and scientifically validated products from Earth observing satellites. These products support researchers working to advance understanding of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere on a global scale. The Laboratory partners with other federal agencies to develop and operate computing systems that provide custom products in near real-time for applied research and applications.

- The Geodesy and Geophysics Laboratory performs broad research in the areas of

Earth time variable and static geopotential and geomagnetic fields, Earth orientation, surface deformation, characterization and change, tides, land ice mass evolution, global and regional sea level, and airborne and spaceborne laser altimetry. The laboratory also supports many NASA missions in fundamental and core capabilities including satellite radar and laser altimetry precise positioning, pointing, ranging, timing, geolocation and calibration and validation.

HBG scientists participate in various scientific activities within each Laboratory as well as interdisciplinary and collaborative work that engages staff across Laboratories and many other Directorates at GSFC. HBG Scientists also collaborate with other national and international agencies and organizations and across academia, non-government organizations and the private sector.

I.A. Statement of Work Structure

The Contractor shall support the HBG sub-division in the ESD at NASA’s GSFC. The support needed to accomplish the scientific missions of the HBG Laboratories above is categorized into seven major areas: Science, Computing, Instrument Development, Calibration and Validation, Field Campaigns, Communications and Public Outreach, and

Project Office and Administrative as listed below. The categories as well as the ordering of the categories are not meant to reflect any order of importance of the required support.

SCIENCE

General Science Research

Modeling, Simulation, and Data Assimilation

Scientific Mission Development, Planning, and Execution

COMPUTING

Science Processing Operations

Data Product Archiving and Distribution

INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT

Mechanical Engineering, Technical, and Assembly

Electronic Design, Engineering, and Analysis

Optical and Microwave Design, Engineering, and Analysis

Bench Checkout Equipment

Laboratory and Field Deployed Instrumentation

CALIBRATION AND VALIDATION

Satellite Instrument Performance Analysis and Support

Calibration Laboratory Support

Specialized Laboratory Support

FIELD CAMPAIGNS

Planning and Execution

In Situ and Airborne Data Collection

Data Archival and Quality Control

COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC OUTREACH

Outreach and Education

Technical Writing and Editing

Media Development

PROJECT OFFICE AND ADMINISTRATIVE

II. FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS

II.A SCIENCE

The Contractor shall support all phases of biospheric, hydrospheric, cryospheric, geodesy and geophysics research activities. These range from experiment concept, design and fabrication, through data acquisition (including flight and ground missions as well as satellite acquired data), data analysis and modeling, the development of science applications, and final publications and communications and outreach about said research. This includes but is not restricted to: research of radiation interactions with and transfer through the land, hydrosphere, and atmosphere; forest and plant canopy modeling; surface energy and water cycle processes; land-ocean-atmosphere interactions;

snow and cold land processes; glaciers, ice sheets and sea ice; regional and global vegetation studies, including carbon dynamics and balance; ocean physics, biology and biogeochemistry; and all aspects of climate change. Additional research areas include static and time variable gravity and magnetics; geoid anomalies; global and regional sea level; earth ocean and solid tides; planetary tides; topography and surface deformation;

radar and laser altimetry; earth and planetary orientation; crustal dynamics; earth and planetary core fluid motions; solid earth science including earthquake processes;

reference frame science including the development and improvement of the space geodetic observational network; applications of precise satellite tracking data analysis including planetary navigation and planetary geodetic science. Some of these studies involve application to societal benefit areas including but not limited to: weather forecasting, water resources, regional sea level, human health, natural hazards, disasters and agriculture.

The Contractor shall support data analysis operations, which require computer programs encompassing such areas as pattern recognition, simulation of physical systems, image data analysis, dynamic interaction with graphical displays, mathematical modeling of physical theories and associated numerical and scientific analyses, and data correlation studies using statistical techniques, as well as large scale parameter estimation, error analysis, and optimization of numerical techniques.

The Contractor shall support the mathematical analysis and computer implementation of techniques that include but are not limited to optical and microwave radiative transfer, scattering analysis, image enhancement, noise removal, radiometric corrections, geometric corrections, registration, filtering and other transformations, pattern recognition, multivariate classification, change detection of Earth resources and meteorological image data, and precise satellite tracking data analysis including state-of-the-art satellite measurement and force modeling.

The Contractor shall support the development, implementation and evaluation of processing algorithms and software to produce biogeophysical parameters from current and future ground-based, airborne and satellite remote sensing instruments studying land, ocean, atmosphere, cryosphere, and geophysical processes. The Contractor shall also support the analysis of the impact of sensor characteristics and performance on derived

Earth science data products and develop improved algorithms and products to assure science data integrity for science experiments and modeling activities.

II.A.1. General Science Research

The Contractor shall support HBG science research across the entire life-cycle of science inquiry from concept development and analysis to data acquisition to final publication, as well as research proposal development. Support is needed for programs such as but not limited to the Earth Observing System (EOS), Suomi-National Polar-orbiting Partnership

(NPP), Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP), Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment-Follow On (GRACE-FO), ICESat-2, Landsat, Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI), PACE, and other Earth Science

Decadal Survey recommended missions. Observation platforms include ground-based, manned aircraft, UAVs and satellites (e.g. Cubesats, Smallsats and traditional spacecraft buses). Fields of study encompass biospherics, cryospherics, hydrospherics, geodesy and geophysics (e.g. planetary satellite tracking data analysis and radiometric science) as well as the study of physical phenomena (e.g. fluorescence).

As required to support the programs above, The Contractor shall:

1. Collaborate with HBG scientists to conduct basic scientific research that aims to advance scientific understanding through hypothesis testing and the scientific method.

The Contractor shall compare their results with those in the relevant published literature;

2. Create and maintain a database of historical data, and document all experimental methodologies and protocols;

3. Coordinate measurement operations; conceive, plan, organize, and conduct field campaigns and experiments combining in situ, airborne and satellite platforms to obtain data critical to the data analysis and modeling efforts;

4. Provide data analysis with accompanying precision, bias, and error analysis, with appropriate software development to provide an operational correction capability;

5. Provide results in the form of summary data, charts, graphs, images, posters, and manuscripts for study, presentations and publications; and

6. Contribute to HBG proposals to NASA as well as other agencies, as appropriate.

II.A.2. Modeling, Simulation, and Data Assimilation

The Contractor shall support the development, use, integration and interpretation of mathematical models throughout the HBG Laboratories as tools for scientific research.

These models range in spatial scale from local to global and in complexity all the way from software frameworks such as the Land Information System (LIS), which supports several global and regional Land Data Assimilation System (LDAS), to radiative transfer of surface components such as leaves. Modeling areas in HBG include coupled land and ocean dynamical-ecosystem-carbon-system models that use space-borne, airborne, and ground observations to predict land surface conditions and processes; modeling of ice sheets and glaciers, sea ice, snow on ice and land, and their roles in the global climate system; realistic scene/canopy simulations models facilitating the study and better understanding of interactions between sensor design and atmosphere/surface radiative transfer; modeling of earth and planetary static and time varying gravity from satellite tracking, surface gravity and altimetry; modeling of the comprehensive geomagnetic field and the modeling of the Geodynamo; modeling of earth and planetary orientation;

development and modeling of terrestrial and celestial reference frames; and data assimilation systems such as LDAS which integrate a range of satellite and surface observations for model tuning and improvement of predictions; and the assimilation of surface geomagnetic data into the numerical Geodynamo models to better constrain the models for understanding the core structure of the Earth and its origins as well as improved prediction of future geomagnetic fluctuations. As required to support such programs and missions listed above and fields of study including biospherics, hydrospherics, cryospherics, geodesy, and geophysics, The Contractor shall:

1. Examine, analyze, and report on the scientific impact of variations in instrument performance with time, as well as the impact of changes in either instrument specifications or spacecraft/aircraft/ground/laboratory validation requirements;

2. Provide spectral, spatial, and radiometric modeling and scene simulation capability;

and provide algorithm development, testing and analysis capability. The models shall allow for characterization of ground targets, observing conditions, and the observing system;

3. Develop coupled dynamical-earth-system models to study the impacts of environmental conditions and climate change on Earth ecosystem species composition and abundance, and carbon transformations within the biosphere. This includes coupling with in situ, airborne and satellite remotely sensed data (e.g. ocean color, Sea Surface Temperature (SST), surface winds, soil moisture, etc.) to validate model predictions and support the interpretation of the model results;

4. Develop, maintain, distribute, and provide user support for the LIS and the following specific instances of LIS: GLDAS (Global LDAS), NLDAS (North American

LDAS), NCA-LDAS (National Climate Assessment LDAS), and FLDAS (FEWS

NET LDAS). LIS is a software framework for high-performance land-surface modeling and data assimilation developed within the Hydrological Sciences

Laboratory. A specific implementation of LIS is LDAS, which consists of land-surface models (uncoupled from an atmospheric model) forced with observations;

5. Develop, maintain, distribute, and provide user support for GEODYN, NASA’s state-of-the-art geodetic parameter estimation and precision orbit determination system;

6. Model new measurement data and additional physical phenomena (e.g. canopy or surface structure, fluorescence);

7. Simulate processes for studying environmental parameters and performing analysis and validation of physical parameters derived from existing laboratory, ground, aircraft, and satellite observations; and

8 Provide results in the form of summary data, charts, graphs, images, posters, and manuscripts for publications and presentations.

II.A.3. Scientific Mission Development, Planning, and Execution

The Contractor shall support HBG scientists and projects in the technology maturation and implementation process for NASA space flight missions, from concept designs and trades, mission requirement development, instrument prototyping on airborne or ground-based platforms to mission proposal development and eventual operations. HBG scientists are involved in a range of mission activities at nearly all levels of maturation, with mission ranging from spaceborne missions to sub-orbital (i.e. airborne and rockets) and in situ. Mission support is needed for future missions such as ICESat-2, JPSS, Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT), GRACE-FO, GEDI, Origins Spectral

Interpretation Resource Identification Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-Rex), Comet

Astrobiology Exploration SAmple Return (CAESAR), PACE, Earth Science Decadal

Survey missions, as well as existing missions such as but not limited to EOS, Global

Precipitation Mission (GPM), Landsat, SMAP, Suomi-NPP, GRACE, Jason-2, and

Jason-3. The Contractor shall also support the technology development, implementation and the operations of the Space Geodesy Project, which includes support for Satellite

Laser Ranging (SLR), Very Long Base Interferometry (VLBI), and GNSS Global

Positioning System (GPS).

The Contractor, through the life cycle of all missions, shall:

1. Support all mission Project Science Offices and Science Data Segments (SDS) in the development, refinement, and verification of science requirements, and support the

Project Scientists and SDS managers in the analysis and development of presentation materials required for formal mission phase gate reviews.

2. Support the development of software tools for instrument schedule generation and provide on-going operational support after launch for the generation, verification, and delivery of instrument schedules to Mission Operations Centers (MOC).

3. Provide orbital instrument support for the space missions.

4. Support instrument on-orbit commissioning and the planning and execution of on-orbit maneuvers.

5. Support calibration and validation of satellite data post launch. This includes but is not limited to the use of on board references, deep space views, lunar calibrations, Earth targets, in situ data and radiative transfer modeling.

6. Apply in situ and laboratory measurements, satellite data, and radiative transfer simulations to study the spectral, spatial, and temporal requirements necessary to accurately retrieve multiple geophysical parameters for the Earth system. This work applies to a wide variety of passive and active sensors.

7. Support multiple reprocessing of archived data to maintain consistent climate data records for multiple geophysical parameters.

8. Utilize the Instrument Toolkit developed by the Moderate Resolution Imaging

Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Characterization Support Team (MCST) to provide regular operational support for MODIS instruments including preparing instrument command uploads for submission to the Flight Operations Team (FOT) during the life of the EOS Terra and Aqua missions.

9. Support mission efforts to develop and coordinate the application of mission data and products for societal benefits. This includes encouraging growth in the mission applications community by facilitating regular contact and communication with

‘Early Adopters’ (e.g. SMAP, ICESat-2) and by organizing dedicated workshops and tutorials aimed at both new and existing users of mission data.

II.B COMPUTING

The Contractor shall provide a range of computing support across HBG, including science processing operations and data archiving and distribution. This section describes the contract support that is required across the HBG laboratories to provide science software and algorithm development capabilities, system and data maintenance and archiving, including maintenance of legacy software and data, and user services and data distribution.

II.B.1 Science Processing Operations

This section covers science processing operations, including algorithm development, coding, testing, and implementation.

1. Provide technical analysis for the development, implementation, and operation of computing systems to produce and distribute science data products. The Contractor shall perform hardware and software development and maintenance requirements for the science data production system to meet its programmatic demands. The

Contractor shall also provide operator support for these science production and distribution facilities. Depending on the facility covered, operations support may extend beyond normal business hours to include monitoring of processing and product distribution in the evening and weekends (e.g. MODIS Adaptive Processing

System (MODAPS), Ocean Data Processing System (ODPS)).

2. Publish analysis results via the Open Climate Workbench (OCW) for all proposed reprocessing changes prior to initiation of a reprocessing and report any significant degradation in sensor calibration or product quality as needed to inform the user community of potential impacts to distributed products.

3. Maintain and enhance processing system ingest and distribution subsystems. The

Contractor shall maintain and enhance software that can ingest Level 0, raw instrument counts, and ship Level 1 through Level 4 science products to the EOS

Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAAC), the instrument science team, and the public (e.g. MODAPS, ODPS).

4. Perform algorithm development, testing, and maintenance for a range of missions, including optical, thermal and microwave sensors. This shall include algorithms for:

calibration of the reflected solar bands and the emitted thermal bands, data browsing, calibration products including Look-Up Tables (LUTs), instrument alignment, cross-calibrating sensors, and product quality assessment. The Contractor shall provide spectral, spatial and radiometric modeling and scene simulation capability to support algorithm updates, development, testing and analysis. The models shall allow for characterization of ground targets, observing conditions, and sensor and spacecraft parameters. The Contractor shall identify types and sources of algorithms for radiometric corrections to satellite science data. The Contractor shall develop operational algorithms for the correction of satellite data for effects such as: satellite orbital drift, sensor degradation, cloud contamination, atmospheric effects, land surface bidirectional reflectance, topography, and soil background. The processing algorithms may be provided in the form of Algorithm Theoretical Basis Documents

(ATBDs), software from Science Team members or the research community, or software developed by the Contractor, or other ESD staff. The Contractor shall develop and maintain atmospheric correction algorithms to remove the effects of the atmosphere from the satellite sensor signal. This includes atmospheric radiative transfer analyses to produce and improve corrections for aerosols, air molecules, and atmospheric gases, as well as surface and subsurface effects (e.g., bi-directional reflectance, sun glint).

5. Develop, implement, and evaluate algorithms and software to process satellite radiometric observations from observed counts to calibrated, global geophysical products. The processing algorithms may be provided in the form of ATBDs or prototype code from Science Team members or the research community, or developed by the Contractor or other HBG staff (e.g. MODAPS, ODPS).

6. Provide software development, data acquisition, and data analysis to support research and development of new or improved data products from single or multiple satellite instruments (e.g. Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), Sea-

Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS), MODIS, Visible and Infrared

Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite

(GOES), GRACE, SMAP, GEDI or ICESat-2).

7. Apply the appropriate data reduction algorithms to process the raw Level-0 data into final data products in calibrated physical units. The Contractor shall maintain and enhance the software to generate products on Linux systems (e.g. MODAPS, ODPS).

8. Maintain and enhance visualization and data manipulation tools. The Contractor shall maintain and enhance existing visualization and data manipulation tools that employ, but are not limited to C, Python, R, Interactive Data Language (IDL), ENVI, ArcGIS, QGIS, MATLAB, GMT (Generic Mapping Tool), and modern FORTRAN to support the rapid inspection and quality assessment of science products. Data manipulation tools may also include cloud-based analysis platforms, such as Google Earth Engine.

The Contractor shall provide software documentation that includes on-line help and user’s guides for the tools.

9. Perform quality assurance on data products. The Contractor shall provide and maintain software for tracking the quality of satellite data products. The routines shall identify problematic data, problems in science product generation software and inoperable detectors. The Contractor shall develop data correction algorithms for improved operational quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) (e.g. MODIS, VIIRS).

10. Assess the quality of all standard products generated and distributed by the ODPS and

Ocean Biology DAAC (OB.DAAC), to include absolute accuracy, precision, temporal and spatial stability, and mission-to-mission continuity and consistency

(where applicable). The Contractor shall perform these assessments prior to any reprocessing or new product generation and inform the research community as to any change in quality before distribution. The Contractor shall also perform quality assessments and comparative analyses of ocean color time-series products to assess performance of new algorithms (proposed by OEL staff or the research community), or sensor calibration changes. The Contractor shall further perform daily assessments of recently processed data (i.e., newly produced MODIS ocean color or SST products) to identify processing errors.

11. Maintain a system description document that describes the inputs, outputs and processing flow for all software used to produce products. The Contractor shall provide a yearly update of this document to reflect changes received from the science team or made by the Contractor to the production software. The software, source code, test datasets, and benchmark results should all be formally version controlled.

12. Maintain documentation that describes in detail the architecture of the processing and product distribution system and provides information needed to maintain the components of the system. (e.g. MODAPS, ODPS).

13. Maintain software for product generation. The Contractor shall maintain all software under configuration management, install components of the processing system as they are improved, and install processing system software upon request on new computer systems. The Contractor shall maintain science product generation software. This involves integration and testing of new deliveries of the science product generation software from the MODIS and Suomi-NPP Science Teams (e.g. MODAPS, ODPS).

14. Maintain databases. The Contractor shall maintain the processing system production and test databases including performing database backup, database consistency checks and database tuning for the development, test, and production systems. The

Contractor shall develop and update the SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) for database installation, maintenance, and tuning. (e.g. MODAPS, ODPS).

15. Provide algorithm and data processing system maintenance and operations, operational data production and verification for the GEDI Science Operations Center

(SOC) which includes the Science Data Processing System and the Science Planning

System (SPS).

16. Provide algorithm and processing system maintenance and operations, operational data production and verification and user support for the ICESat-2 Science Data

Processing System, including Precision Orbit Determination, Precision Pointing

Determination, Geolocation, Instrument Calibration and Validation, and the

Constraint Analysis and Monitoring System.

17. Provide algorithm and data processing system maintenance and operations, and operational data production and verification for the Land, Vegetation and Ice Sensor

(LVIS) Facility Data Processing System.

18. Maintain and enhance production systems for near-real time data processing (e.g.

Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE) and changes to existing science processing software to support near-real time applications.

19. Provide cutting-edge scientific computing support. In particular provide scientific computing support for large scale model parameter estimation problems in a highly parallel processing architecture on in a hybrid computing environment that includes

UNIX clusters, NASA high performance computing systems (e.g. NASA Center for

Climate Simulation (NCCS) super computers), and cloud computing platforms such as Amazon Web Services. In addition, provide highly skilled and innovative support in the programming of Graphics Processing Units (GPU) to solve large scale computing problems (e.g. the processing of billions of LIDAR waveforms).

Furthermore, provide skilled support in porting computational problems to Cloud

Computing.

II.B.2 Data Product Archiving and Distribution

Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) are responsible for data product archiving, data product distribution, and for providing tools, services and expert advice to the user community for products in their archives. Specific requirements for the DAACs are set forth by the EOSDIS Project and maintained in COMET (Configuration Management

EOSDIS Tool) and the Contractor shall be responsible for meeting the requirements outlined in “Requirements for Archiving, Distribution and User Services in EOS Data and Information System (EOSDIS), document #423-10-69, Revision B.”

The contractor shall enhance, maintain, and operate the following DAACs:

1. The OB.DAAC, distributes all satellite data and derived products supported by the

OEL (e.g., ocean color from VIIRS, MODIS, SeaWiFS, Ocean Land Color Imager

(OLCI), Second-Generation Global Imager (SGLI), Geostationary Ocean Colour

Imager (GOCI), Medium Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MERIS), Ocean

Color and Temperature Scanner (OCTS), and Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS), SST from MODIS and VIIRS, and ocean color, aerosol, and cloud products from

PACE). The Contractor shall support and enhance the OB.DAAC data distribution capabilities to support new missions and requirements (e.g. PACE) and evolving international collaborations (OLCI, SGLI, GOCI).

2. The Level 1 and Atmospheres Archive and Distribution System DAAC

(LAADS.DAAC) distributes calibrated and Earth located radiances (Level 1 products) and derived geophysical atmosphere and land products from MODIS, VIIRS, European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinels, AVHRR, and airborne instruments.

The Contractor shall support and enhance the LAADS.DAAC data distribution capabilities to support additional missions as assigned by the EOSDIS Project.

3. The Crustal Dynamics Data Information System (CDDIS) is NASA’s data archive and distribution system for space geodesy data. The system supports the space geodesy and geodynamics community through the Space Geodesy Project as well as

NASA’s Earth Science Enterprise. The CDDIS archives and distributes GPS, Global

Navigational Satellite System (GLONASS), SLR, LLR, VLBI, and DORIS data. The

Contractor shall support the maintenance, enhancement, and operations of the

CDDIS.

The Contractor shall also be responsible for the following tasks in support of the DAACs identified above:

1. Maintain and enhance the processing system web-based sub-systems including: data search and order, production reports and online documentation.

2. Make science products available on line and maintain and enhance secure web sites that enable searches, orders, and delivery of science products. (OB.DAAC, LAADS.DAAC).

3. Maintain and enhance software that will enable users to generate customized products by applying post-processing operations that include but are not limited to sub-setting, sub-sampling, projection, masking and mosaicking (LAADS.DAAC).

4. Maintain and enhance secure web services that provide machine-to-machine access for all data search, ordering and post-processing operations available at the DAAC website (LAADS.DAAC).

5. Maintain documentation on the DAAC web sites for all products distributed by the

DAACs and make available the source code used to generate the products for download by users (LAADS.DAAC). The Contractor shall deliver any version of a science application used to generate products that is currently archived upon request.

The delivery shall be in the form that includes a readme file, complete science software and test data sets as defined in the ICD (Interface Control Document) or other formal official document.

6. Monitor and respond to users queries and requests regarding products distributed by a

DAAC and any services offered by the DAAC. The Contractor shall track user questions and use the information to improve the answers provided in FAQs

(Frequently Asked Questions) and online documentation (LAADS.DAAC) and in an online user forum (OB.DAAC).

7. Develop, maintain, distribute, and provide user support for the multiple data distribution and analyses systems (e.g. SeaWiFS Data Analysis System (SeaDAS), GIOVANNI). These systems provide the research community with a tool for display and analysis of all satellite products as well as the processing software to reproduce those products, alternative products, or user-developed products from satellite radiometric observations. The Contractor shall maintain the existing capabilities to ensure software portability with popular operating systems, maintain legacy software and data, incorporate new capabilities as needed to support new missions and changing NASA requirements, and evolve the software package through new technologies and design improvements to minimize maintenance costs and enhance utility. The Contractor shall also prepare training materials and lead periodic training workshops for the user community.

8. Maintain and extend the existing NASA Ocean Optics Protocols that are currently available as NASA Technical Memoranda and distributed through the OCW, to incorporate new or updated instrument capabilities or measurement approaches.

9. Provide support to investigators involved with Laser Geodynamics Satellite

(LAGEOS)-1, LAGEOS-2, Starlette, Stella, GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, GRACE, GOCE, and SWARM.

II.C INSTRUMENTATION DEVELOPMENT

The Contractor shall support the HBG and other Laboratories in the ESD and in the

GSFC Sciences and Exploration Directorate in the development of new instruments for laboratory, ground-based, airborne, and space-borne platforms for Earth and planetary remote sensing applications. Demonstrating new measurement concepts and techniques that can enhance and improve science data gathering relies on various engineering disciplines, including mechanical, electrical, laser and electro-optical, optical and microwave engineering, and includes design, analysis and fabrication. Pre-launch engineering tasks may also involve design and analysis efforts for developing Bench

Checkout Equipment (BCE) – equipment used to verify and calibrate new instruments under the same environmental conditions expected in space. Engineering support for laboratory use, and field deployment on the ground or in the air of a variety of in situ and remote sensing instruments is also required.

The Contractor shall provide instrument and component development and engineering support including the design, development, and verification of research instrumentation at various stages of completion. Included in this support are: 1) basic engineering design and analysis of an instrument, components and subsystems; 2) development of electronic components and subsystems; 3) fabrication and assembly of optical and microwave, opto-mechanical and mechanical components and subsystems; 4) integration of the components and subsystems into an instrument; 5) field testing; and 6) the evaluation and verification of acceptable performance of systems, subsystems, and instrumentation. Each stage of the development process shall be documented by the Contractor and provided to the Government on a predetermined schedule. Spare parts, witness samples, test procedures and test results shall be maintained by the Contractor as required by the project manager or investigator.

II.C.1. Mechanical Engineering, Technical, and Assembly

This requirement is to provide mechanical engineering support services within an integrated project teamwork environment to develop active or passive optical and microwave remote sensing instrumentation.

1. Provide conceptual and detailed design, detailed drawings, fabrication, and assembly services for active or passive optical remote sensing instruments for use in laboratory, ground-based, aircraft, and spaceflight applications. Fabrication may be done either on the Code 600 mechanical lab machines or at the contractor’s facilities.

2. Provide general mechanical engineering, design, and analysis support.

3. Provide mechanical parts and subsystems for Engineering Test Units and Flight Units for subsystems and instruments.

4. Provide technical support including conceptual designs, memoranda, drawings, and briefings in support of new instrument proposals (general remote sensing systems for laboratory, ground-based, airborne, and space-borne applications) being developed by

GSFC, such as in response to NASA Announcements of Opportunity.

5. Provide support for assembly, testing, and integration of instruments, including documenting and reporting through all phases.

6. Provide trailer system mechanical support, design, and analysis of upgrades, modifications, and repairs (e.g. Combined Radar/Radiometer (ComRAD) boom truck system, Raman Lidar trailer system).

7. Provide mechanical design support for brass board demonstrations of new measurement concepts.

8. Provide thermal design and analysis for the development and deployment of instruments and enclosures. Experienced thermal design, management, and analysis skills are required for this effort.

9. Provide general mechanical design support for Laboratories in the ESD and the

Sciences and Exploration Directorate.

II.C.2. Electronic Design, Engineering, and Analysis

This requirement is to provide electronic design, engineering and analysis support services within an integrated project teamwork environment to develop active or passive electro-optical and microwave remote sensing instrumentation.

1. Provide conceptual designs, memoranda, drawings, and briefings in support of new instrument proposal activities being developed by GSFC in response to NASA

Announcements of Opportunity.

2. Provide electronic and data system engineering support for the development and testing of ground-based, airborne, and space-based instrument systems. Provide support for determination of system power budget.

3. Provide Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) analysis support for the electronic design.

II.C.3. Optical and Microwave Design, Engineering, and Analysis

This requirement is to provide design, engineering and analysis support services within an integrated project teamwork environment to develop active or passive optical and microwave remote sensing instrumentation.

1. Provide design and engineering support for the development and testing of active or passive optical and microwave remote sensing instrument systems.

2. Perform testing, analysis and reporting of transmitter, receiver, and electronic sub-system performance, including those developed in-house or purchased commercially.

4. Support instrument integration and testing (I&T) including assembly and collection, analysis, and reporting of instrument performance and trouble-shooting problems for the instrument and BCE.

5. Help resolve problems identified during testing of sub-systems and integrated instrument that cause failure to meet requirements. These include, but are not limited to misalignment, instability, contamination, and light close out.

6. Review and report the performance of all tests done post-integration with aircraft, spacecraft, and launch vehicles during airborne and on-orbit check-out phases.

7. Provide novel conceptual designs, memoranda, drawings and briefings in support of new instrument proposal activities

8. Provide EMI analysis for optical and microwave design concepts.

II.C.4. Bench Checkout Equipment

This requirement is to provide engineering support services for BCE within an integrated project teamwork environment to develop active or passive electro-optical remote sensing instrumentation.

1. Conduct testing of the Engineering Test Unit and Flight Instrument and present data to project review team.

2. Provide hardware and software engineering support to maintain, update, test, and document laser-based remote sensing instrumentation testing systems. Performance of this task requires demonstrated knowledge of the instrument, the mission requirements, the BCE concept, and detailed design.

3. Operate the instrument BCE, and perform data reduction during subsystem, system level, and observatory integration during all phases of subsystem and system level environmental testing. Operation of the instruments in a clean room may also be required.

4. Provide project documentation – specifically BCE users guide, participate in developing the comprehensive performance test and documentation therein, and status reports on request.

5. Be responsible for performance monitoring and tracking information and provide the appropriate information to the Government.

6. Provide on-site support for bench checkout electronics and software development and testing.

II.C.5 Laboratory and Field Deployed Instrumentation

This requirement is to provide general engineering support services for a variety of laboratory and in-situ instrumentation and for field deployment of both airborne and ground-based instruments and systems.

The Contractor shall:

1. Design, develop, fabricate, test, integrate, and calibrate instruments and readout systems for in-house use and in situ and airborne deployment (e.g. AErosol RObotic

NETwork (AERONET) Goddard’s Lidar Hyperspectral and Thermal Imager (G-

LiHT), LVIS, Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM));

2. Support the following: site surveys; airborne and ground-based engineering data collection; equipment installation; data analysis; and documentation (e.g. AERONET, G-LiHT, LVIS, ATM);

3. Design, develop, install, and test new optical and microwave mechanical, electrical, and electronic assemblies for existing instruments, hardware, and equipment.

4. Monitor the status of support equipment used in laboratory and field (airborne, in situ) experiments; identify inoperable detectors and equipment;

5. Operate and manage laboratory and field deployment of hardware and software; field observations and flight support; and instrument modification and equipment refurbishment (e.g. AERONET, G-LiHT, LVIS, ATM).

II.D CALIBRATION & VALIDATION

The interpretation and quantitative analysis of remotely-sensed data requires the ability to discriminate between changes in the remote sensing instruments and changes in those physical processes of the Earth being measured or monitored. The ability to make this discrimination on pre- and post-launch, flight, and deployment basis depends on (1) the calibration of the instruments with respect to a set of recognized physical standards or processes and (2) the careful characterization of instrument performance at both the subsystem and system level, and over time. Validation includes a scope of activities ranging from vicarious and image or product quality assessments all the way to laboratory and in situ measurements. HBG Laboratories maintain laboratory facilities including calibration laboratories such as the NASA GSFC Code 618 Calibration Facility and the Goddard Laser for Absolute Measurement of Radiance (GLAMR) laboratory as well as other laboratories that serve functions from calibration and maintenance of field instruments to analysis of field-acquired samples. This function addresses requirements that are primarily and substantially related to the calibration and validation of sensors and their calibration and validation data products.

II.D.1 Satellite Instrument Performance Analysis and Support

The production of Sensor Data Records (SDRs) suitable for process studies, climate science, and weather prediction requires the careful review and analysis of the pre-launch and on-orbit performance of Earth observing satellite instruments with respect to overarching science goals. Specifically, this includes performing (1) detailed pre-launch review of satellite instrument radiometric, spatial, and spectral performance requirements,

(2) comprehensive analysis of pre-launch instrument-level and observatory-level testing, calibration, and characterization, and (3) accurate assessment and maintenance of post-launch instrument performance. In performing the above activities, the Contractor shall:

1. Support the development of measurement requirements and prelaunch and post launch calibration and characterization methodologies and analyses for current and future Earth and planetary observing missions including but not limited to MODIS

Terra and Aqua, Suomi-NPP and JPSS VIIRS, Advanced Technology Microwave

Sounder (ATMS), Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS), PACE, ICESat-2, Landsat 8 and 9, and Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO), GEDI, GRACE-FO, OSIRIS-Rex, CAESAR.

2. Review and assess the subsystem and system-level design and testing of satellite instruments operating across wavelengths from the visible to the microwave against instrument hardware performance and science requirements. This includes the review of instrument design, ground support and test equipment, test methodology and software (e.g. JPSS, PACE, ICESat-2, Landsat-9).

3. Monitor pre-launch satellite instrument subsystem and system level ambient and thermal vacuum testing and analyze all test data produced. In addition, analyze ambient and thermal vacuum instrument test data acquired at the observatory-level.

These activities will be performed at NASA GSFC and at the satellite instrument vendor facilities. Document the results of these tests in formal reports. Support pre-launch data, test, and performance reviews and working groups, anomaly and failure resolution, and technical interface meetings. (e.g. JPSS, PACE, ICESat-2, Landsat-9).

4. Review and assess the science impacts of instrument performance waivers and risks, which may arise during instrument performance testing. Interface with the science data user community in formulating final science impact assessments. (e.g. JPSS, PACE, ICESat-2, Landsat-9).

5. Review, maintain, develop, and enhance the software required to produce calibrated, geo-located, radiance and reflectance data from satellite instrument raw data. (e.g.

JPSS, PACE, ICESat-2, Landsat-9).

6. Design, develop, implement, maintain, test, and verify system algorithms, with particular attention to problem areas identified by project managers, such as cross talk between sensor detectors, polarization and scan angle effects in optical systems, or cross-calibration of sensor systems (e.g. MODIS Terra and Aqua, Landsat, VIIRS

Calibration Facility and Biospheric Sciences laboratory equipment).

7. Support instrument post-launch testing and on-orbit commissioning including monitoring and trending on-orbit radiometric, spatial, and spectral performance data.

Support the planning and execution of on-orbit calibration maneuvers (e.g. lunar and deep space views). Develop software tools to analyze instrument data obtained during satellite commissioning and from post-launch tests and calibration maneuvers.

Support post-launch data and performance reviews and working groups, anomaly and failure resolution boards, and technical interface meetings (e.g. MODIS Terra and

Aqua, Suomi-NPP and JPSS, PACE, ICESat-2, Landsat-9).

8. Support the improved calibration and validation of GEDI waveform geolocation, and measurement of topography and canopy heights.

9. Support the improved calibration and validation of ICESat-2 surface return geolocation and measurement of ice sheet, glacier and ice cap surface elevation, and sea ice freeboard.

10. Support the improved calibration and validation of LVIS Facility geolocated waveforms.

11. Assess long-term and short-term system and subsystem performance relative to specified and baseline laboratory performance, provide results and analysis and submit recommendations for improving performance (e.g. Landsat, VIIRS and

MODIS calibration).

12. For series of identical or similar satellite instruments, maintain a database of instrument performance risks, issues, lessons learned, and potential improvements

(e.g. MODIS Terra and Aqua, S-NPP and JPSS VIIRS, ATMS, CrIS, Landsat series).

13. Prepare presentation material and documentation on NASA’s assessment of satellite sensor performance in support of instrument, project and program-level science reviews and meetings.

14. Publish findings in the peer and non-peer reviewed literature and present results and findings at scientific conferences in accordance with government Export

Administration Regulations (EAR) and instrument vendor proprietary guidelines.

15. Perform on-orbit calibration (e.g., solar and lunar-based calibration including, but not limited to the Robotic Lunar Observatory model) and assessments of the radiometric stability of currently operating NASA sensors. In addition, perform periodic reassessments of instrument radiometric performance over full mission lifetimes prior to reprocessing of on-orbit operational or research missions (e.g. MODIS Terra and

Aqua, S-NPP and JPSS VIIRS, ATMS, CrIS, PACE, ICESat-2, Landsat-9).

16. Develop and implement additional calibration strategies, techniques, and algorithms as needed to augment the prelaunch and on-board calibration capabilities and to solve particular hardware and software challenges and problems which may arise (e.g., cross-calibration between satellite sensors, vicarious calibration between satellite sensors and ground-based targets). This work will include interfacing with external sensor calibration teams (e.g., the MCST, the VIIRS Calibration Support Team

(VCST), the PACE Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) Calibration Team, the Landsat-9

Calibration Team, the ATMS Calibration Team) with the goals of monitoring and mitigating the impact of calibration changes and sensor degradation on derived products.

17. Archive data from instrument testing and deliver calibration and validation data sets to user community (e.g.