NASA’s Advance Information Systems Technology (AIST) Program: Technology Enabling Earth Science Understanding

Abstract:

NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) develops early-stage technologies to enhance scientific understanding. As the lead technology office within the Earth Science Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate, ESTO is focused on the technological challenges inherent to space-based investigations of our planet's dynamic, interrelated systems. From next generation sensors and instruments to communication and information systems, ESTO technologies enable many NASA missions and data services.

The Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) Program is one focal area of ESTO. AIST innovates information system technologies that enable the development of new observing systems as well as agile science investigations through data analytics and artificial intelligence tools and algorithms. AIST utilizes an end-to-end development approach with the goal of infusing mature technologies into future missions, measurements, and analysis. One thrust of AIST is data exploitation and analysis using an analytic center framework to make observational data and model output more accessible and usable to scientists conducting specific investigations as well as to extract higher-level science content and information from the data. The framework accelerates scientific discovery by harmonizing the data, tools, and computational resources.

NASA’s upcoming Surface, Biology and Geology (SBG) mission is one such mission whose data architecture will leverage many of the technologies developed through the AIST program. AIST has invested in numerous technologies to support the development of an analytic center framework for biodiversity. Projects range from on-demand data annotations to spectral data fusion using cloud computing to the integration and visualization of phenocam data against geospatial information. This talk will highlight current and future program concepts and interests.