Veery: Flat-panel Scatterometer for Hourly Ocean Surface Vector Winds (Veery)

Current sources of ocean surface vector winds (OSVW) have significant limitations in temporal sampling. Without frequent, global OSVW, it's impossible to observe large-scale extreme weather systems at the level required to thoroughly understand them. These systems affect everyone on Earth and especially the most vulnerable. Increasing refresh of OSVW requires a satellite constellation. Current OSVW satellites cost too much to deploy and maintain a constellation. Passive OSVW satellites (reflectometers, radiometers) have failed to solve this problem, due to narrow swaths and onerous sensitivity requirements. For this project, Care Weather proposes to: ""Develop Veery, a flat-panel scatterometer capable of measuring ocean surface vector winds with state of the art performance at 1/100th the cost, raising its TRL from 3 to 6 in three years."" Veery is designed to fly on a satellite with a new flat satellite form factor (flatsat) to increase surface area for power and cooling, to fly at low orbits aerodynamically, and to replace thrusters with differential drag. Multiple Veery satellites can be stacked into a single launch rideshare booking. Veery is orders of magnitude lower in cost, enabling affordable constellation deployment and maintenance. To accomplish this objective, we propose to advance the readiness of the required subsystems and integrate them into the full Veery instrument. This includes the following key milestones: Kickoff, Flatsat-frontend, Radar Backend, ADCS Software, Scatterometer v1.0, and a Final Report. The flatsat-frontend milestone involves integrating the radar frontend with flat-sat thermal management technologies. The radar backend milestone involves refining the signal quality of Care Weather's radar backend and developing improved processing to support high-uptime measurement. The ADCS software milestone introduces support for the unique flight modes required for Veery's body-spun scanning approach. The scatterometer v1.0 milestone scales and combines these subsystems into the full instrument, which is tested on an airplane flight. The results of this and other tests are detailed in a final report. By capturing the rapid evolution of convective storms, squall lines, and cold-pool dynamics, Veery will significantly advance our knowledge of mesoscale and synoptic-scale weather systems. This enhanced observational capability is vital for improving models of tropical cyclones, hazardous maritime winds, and their associated impacts on global weather patterns and climate systems. Weather drives the majority of natural disasters, which kill 28,000 people, displace a million more, cost hundreds of billions of dollars, drive 26 million people into poverty, and create emergency assistance needs for 175 million people every year. Veery will save lives and livelihoods by improving weather forecasts, reducing damage to U.S. infrastructure, and preventing weather-driven poverty. In doing so, Veery supports NASA's Earth Science and Earth action objectives to understand and protect our planet and the people who live on it.

Increase scientific understanding of natural phenomena using remote sensing.

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