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Abstract: Tremendous volumes of data have been captured, archived and analyzed. Sensors, algorithms and processing systems for transforming and analyzing the data are evolving over time. Web Portals and Services can create transient data sets on-demand. Data are transferred from organization to organization with additional transformations at every stage. Provenance in this context refers to the source of data and a record of the process that led to its current state. Provenance is important for understanding and using scientific datasets, and critical for independent confirmation of scientific results. Managing provenance throughout scientific data processing has gained interest lately and there are a variety of approaches. Large scale scientific datasets consisting of thousands to millions of individual data files and processes offer particular challenges. This talk will introduce the general area of provenance tracking and describe its application to earth science data processing.

Bio: Curt Tilmes is currently the technical lead on two Ozone processing projects: the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) Science Investigator-led Processing System (SIPS) which has been processing ozone data from the Earth Observing System's Aura spacecraft since its launch in 2004, and the Ozone Product Evaluation and Analysis Tool Element (PEATE) which is preparing to evaluate data from the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) after its launch.

Curt also played a key role in the MODIS (Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) Emergency Backup System (MEBS), and was the lead system architect of the MODIS Data Production System (MODAPS) that has been processing data from the EOS Terra and Aqua spacecraft since their launches in 1999 and 2002.

He holds BS degrees in Computer Engineering and Computer Science from Virginia Tech, and MS degrees in Computer Science and System Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Abstract: The GSFC SpaceCube, a compact reconfigurable high-performance processing platform, was successfully flown as part of the Relative Navigation Sensors (RNS) system, a payload on the STS-125 Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Servicing Mission 4. The main objectives of RNS were to record images of HST during the mission and prove real-time tracking capabilities. SpaceCube was responsible for a variety of RNS tasks including avionics control, two real-time image processing algorithms for position and attitude estimation, command and data handling, camera automatic gain control, JPEG2000 image compression, and Space Shuttle Ku-band interfacing. This presentation will feature how the SpaceCube enabled all RNS objectives. This presentation will also highlight various other SpaceCube projects and technology advances. In particular, GSFC is sending another SpaceCube to the ISS as an experimental processing platform. Two new versions of the SpaceCube are also in the works. The first is targeted for small-scale missions like sounding rocket avionics. The second is targeted for long-term missions requiring high reliability like those of the Earth Science Decadal missions.

Bio: Dan Espinosa started working at Goddard as an intern in 2003. He is currently a member of the Embedded Processing group within the Science Data Processing Branch (Code 587) and a member of the SpaceCube 2.0 development team. He has a BS in Computer Engineering and a MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida.

Dan’s area of expertise is in reconfigurable high-performance embedded systems that utilize Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) for on-board data processing. Dan assisted with FPGA development for the SpaceCube for the Relative Navigation Sensors, a HST SM4 payload. Dan was also the lead Xilinx FPGA developer for the SpaceCube Demonstration Platform set to launch on STS-129 as part of MISSE7 to the space station that will serve as a NASA test bed for radiation mitigation strategies.

Abstract: TBD

Bio: Dr. Brent Bos was born and raised in Zeeland, Michigan and after a second grade, elementary school trip to the Roger B. Chaffee planetarium (named in honor of the fallen Apollo I astronaut) in Grand Rapids, Michigan decided that space exploration was his life’s calling. He went on to study physics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. After completing his undergraduate studies but before beginning graduate-level work in optical and planetary sciences at the University of Arizona, he worked in research and development for an automotive components supplier. His research in the area of automotive sensors and vision products led to him being credited as an inventor on 25 United States patents. Dr. Bos first became an active participant in planetary exploration as an undergraduate research assistant in 1991, studying cometary atmospheres at the University of Michigan Space Physics Research Laboratory. In 1997 he joined the imager for Mars Pathfinder team as a graduate research assistant and became active in Mars exploration. During his five year tenure with this group he analyzed imagery of the Martian surface to study Mars geomorphology and mineralogy and was involved in the development, building and testing of five Mars lander cameras for three different Mars missions. In 2001 he spent three weeks in the Canadian high arctic to participate in manned and unmanned Mars mission simulations and field test spacecraft instrumentation as part of the NASA Haughton-Mars project.

After successfully defending his Ph.D. in 2002, he joined the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as a research physicist to participate in the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) development effort. In August 2003 NASA headquarters selected the University of Arizona’s Phoenix Mars lander to be the first mission of the Mars Scout program and in addition to supporting JWST.

Dr. Bos began participating in the tests and programmatic activities to prepare the Phoenix for launch and operation on the Martian surface – ultimately culminating with his participation in Phoenix science operations during the summer of 2008. Dr. Bos currently serves as the lead JWST integrated science instrument module (ISIM) optical systems engineer and principal investigator for various planetary dust characterization instrument research and development projects. He has authored or co-authored papers that have appeared in the Astrophysical Journal, the Journal of Geophysical Research-Planets, Geophysical Research Letters and the Proceedings of SPIE. He currently resides in Laurel, Maryland with his wife and three young children.