NASA\u2019s Earth-observing satellites track an enormous range of phenomena: how aerosols move through the atmosphere, how moisture descends through soil, how land-cover shifts over decades. It\u2019s some of the most consequential data NASA produces, informing science, policy, agriculture, and climate research around the world.<\/p>\n
As NASA\u2019s Earth Science Division (ESD) manages this vast portfolio, they operate within an environment marked by significant complexity. This system-of-systems is continually evolving as mission requirements develop, new capabilities come online while others are retired, and international partnerships shift over time. All of this happens against a backdrop of deep uncertainty in technology readiness, launch opportunities, and resource availability.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cIt reaches more people than most realize. The farmers who are growing your food use the data from these satellites.\u201d<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u201cESD leadership is constantly navigating this complicated landscape,\u201d says Betsy Ford, a decision analyst and Deputy Team Lead for the NASA Earth Science Strategic Integration Environment (NESSIE) team within the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate (SACD) at NASA\u2019s Langley Research Center. \u201cOur work focuses on integrating information across the broad system-of-systems so that these decision-makers can visualize the current state, how things could evolve, and how all of it lines up against NASA\u2019s long-term scientific priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n Ford\u2019s path to this work runs through two vastly different worlds, and it all started before she could even drive.<\/p>\n Both of her parents spent their careers at NASA Langley and recently retired from it. Growing up, Ford attended the center\u2019s daycare and its summer picnics. \u201cIt always felt like a college campus and a big family,\u201d she says. \u201cI really loved that.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, when she graduated from Virginia Tech with a mechanical engineering degree, she chose to branch out first. She joined General Motors\u2019 engineering rotation program in Michigan, spending time as a mass integration engineer for Corvette before moving to\u00a0 work as a vehicle occupant safety engineer performing crash testing. She was also finishing a master\u2019s in engineering management at the University of Nebraska, where she was introduced to risk analysis and strategic decision making.<\/p>\n When a position opened in the Space Mission Analysis Branch (part of SACD), she applied, hoping her experience in systems engineering and master\u2019s might offset the gap between the hardware testing of running vehicles into walls and the analytical work NASA needed. \u201cLeadership saw potential in my background and gave me a chance to apply it in a new context,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n At its core, NESSIE addresses an information architecture problem. Hundreds of Earth-observing satellite missions, both NASA\u2019s and its partners,\u2019 each observing specific phenomena, from cloud cover to land use. That data has always existed. The challenge was making sense of it all in one place.<\/p>\n NESSIE\u2019s main web application page presents a heat map showing which missions are addressing 34 science observables alongside a mission timeline. Additional views drill down further, such as which specific instruments on which spacecraft cover a given measurement, and how international partner collaborations have evolved over the years.<\/p>\n \u201cWe focus on continuous improvement,\u201d Ford explains. \u201cEach iteration aims to give our stakeholders a clearer, more useful product than they had the day before.\u201d While supporting NASA headquarters in its strategic planning, the team is working toward making NESSIE available to the National Academies to help inform the next decadal survey, a document that will define national science priorities and guide government investments into the next decade. It\u2019s a milestone that Ford describes as a significant step toward \u201cusing NESSIE to more fully support the scientific community through clearer data-driven planning of future missions.\u201d<\/p>\n Ford had always cared about Earth science in the abstract. It took a visit to her family\u2019s farm in Nebraska to make it concrete.<\/p>\n She was explaining her work with satellites, observables, and web applications, when her relatives pulled out their phones and showed her satellite data they use every day to monitor soil moisture across their fields. Then they showed her the tool it had once replaced: a metal rod they used to shove into the ground by hand to measure moisture levels.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s just one example of how impactful this work can be,\u201d she says. \u201cIt reaches more people than most realize. The farmers who are growing your food use the data from these satellites.\u201d<\/p>\n When Ford wonders why the work matters, that moment is a powerful reminder for her. The satellites are the visible part of the story. The decisions about which ones to build, launch, and sustain, and the tools that make those decisions smarter, are what her work is about.<\/p>\n Ford recently stepped into the deputy lead role on the NESSIE team, staffed primarily by early-career engineers. She credits mentors in her NASA tenure, particularly team lead Marie Ivanco, who modeled a method to looking at complex problems that shaped how Ford works now.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re faced with a challenge, Marie asks, \u2018What is your process?\u201d Ford says. \u201cShe championed really decomposing a problem and approaching it systematically. That wasn\u2019t natural to me at that point, but I really admired it.\u201d<\/p>\n Now Ford\u2019s doing the same for others. \u201cFinding that balance of providing the opportunities to grow along with some structure and guidance, that\u2019s the job.\u201d<\/p>\n She also believes that NASA offers anyone entering engineering the freedom to define problems and solutions rather than to just execute known processes, and to exercise research instincts in ways that more prescriptive industry environments rarely allow. \u201cIt prompts a lot more creativity,\u201d she says. \u201cGetting to flex those research muscles is an opportunity I didn\u2019t really have at other jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n Star Wars<\/em> \u2014 the film franchise<\/p>\n Ford grew up in a Star Wars household: her father was a devoted fan, and she still remembers her first PG-13 movie in theaters, one of the newer films in the series. These days her husband keeps the tradition going, and with a 15-month-old son, Saturday morning Star Wars cartoons may already be on the calendar.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s very excited to get him started.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Learn more about our work by visiting our website.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Powered by WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Get The Details…<\/a> NASA\u2019s Earth-observing satellites track an enormous range of phenomena: how aerosols move through the atmosphere, how moisture descends through soil, how land-cover shifts over decades. It\u2019s some of the most consequential data NASA produces, informing science, policy, agriculture, and climate research around the world. As NASA\u2019s Earth Science Division (ESD) manages this vast portfolio, they [\u2026] Continue reading
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\nSondra Woodward <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"