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- Welcome to NASA's jet
propulsion laboratory

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in Southern California.

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Good morning and thanks for
tuning in, I'm Marina Jurica.

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And we're here in the viewing gallery

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of the spacecraft assembly facility.

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And right below me here

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is one of our next earth
observing satellites, SWOT,

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which stands for Surface
Water Ocean Topography.

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Launching in November, 2022,

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SWOT will give NASA
its first global survey

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of Earth's surface water,

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providing data about clean
air and water, extreme events

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and long-term environmental changes.

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You can join in on the
conversation here live,

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by putting your questions
in the comment box,

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and we'll get it as we head
throughout the program.

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And joining me now is Karen St. Germain,

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who is the Earth division science director

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at NASA headquarters.

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And she's gonna give us
a glimpse into the future

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of earth missions for NASA.

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And then a little later in the program,

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we'll be talking to Parag Vaze,

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who's the program manager for SWOT

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and he's gonna let us know

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what really sets SWOT apart

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and makes it unique, so welcome Karen.

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- Thank you so much Marina,
it's great to be here with you

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and it's great to be at JPL.

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- Yes and it's great to actually see SWOT

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down right here beside us.

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- Absolutely, absolutely.

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- So this is an exciting time

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and NASA has many NASA
earth science missions

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that are orbiting and studying the earth

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from the carbon cycle to the
atmosphere to sea level rise.

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And what is going to be in the future now

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as we head forward with
NASA earth science missions

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that we can get excited about?

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- Absolutely, so we have
a great year coming up.

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We've got uh we've got
five launches coming up,

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in the coming year or so
and including SWOT and NISAR

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which are both behind us here,

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of course, Landsat 9

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which is which is our partnership

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with USGS as well as Maya

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and Emit two other aerosol
inclusion observation systems.

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But after that, we are, we
are already starting to build,

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starting to move out on the planning

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of what we're calling the
Earth System Observatory.

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It will be a collection

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of missions, instruments that
view the entire earth system

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from the atmosphere to the
surface, to the subsurface

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to give us a full 3D view of our planet.

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- So it's going to be a really
busy next couple of years

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for us, which is so exciting
studying our planet earth.

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Now I've noticed with many
of the earth science missions

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there's a lot of
international collaboration.

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Why is that?

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And why is that important?

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- Oh, it's so important to us.

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The, the changes that we're seeing

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in our environment are, are global.

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And uh and that means we
need the global community

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of space faring nations to join with us

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to make all of the
observations we need to make

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to really understand what's
happening on our planet.

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And so are these partnerships really just

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multiply what we're able to do.

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- And thanks so much for
all of guys tuning in.

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We're getting a lot of great
social media questions.

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Karen, Jennifer on Twitter asks

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will we be sharing this information

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with people in other parts of the globe?

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- Absolutely. So NASA
has long had a policy

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of full, free, and open data.

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But one of the things, one
of our major initiatives

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right now, something
we're calling open science

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and the idea there is to
get all of the data and all

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of the models in the
applications that we derive

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from the data into one
ecosystem to get data out

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to people who need it,

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no matter where they are around the globe

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- And societal impacts are
so important, especially

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to the people who are
watching out there today.

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Karen you've spent the bulk

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of your career studying
earth science emissions

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and previously being with NOAA

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how will these earth science
missions collectively

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help society and understand
our earth better?

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- Yeah. So we get,

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we get excited about
building the satellites

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and collecting the observations and

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but really that's just
the start, the next step,

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once we have the
observing systems launched

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and we have the observations,
the next step is

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really to extract the
scientific understanding

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from those observations

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the understanding what's
actually happening

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and then converting that
into actionable information.

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People at

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at every level need
information to make decisions.

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We're very familiar
with NOAA's mission with

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with weather prediction
and severe weather warning.

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And of course that helps people
prepare in the near term.

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We're also wanting, we
want to help people prepare

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for the long-term changes
that are coming, and that's

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that's important at the
federal, state, local,

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tribal levels.

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It's also important for
the private sector there.

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They have to be able to
plan for risks as well.

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So the idea is, get this information

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out there where people can make use

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of it to make better,
science informed decisions.

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- And that's what's great.

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And what's incredible
about all this information,

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Karen, is it's, it's
accessible to everybody.

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- Absolutely. In fact, part

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of the open science
initiative not only is to

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get information out there,
but it's also to get more

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more people working on our data and

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and joining us in asking a broader variety

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of questions that we can
answer with our data.

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So it's, we're, we're trying to lower the

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any barriers to access through
this initiative as well.

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- And it's so important
to get the prognostics

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into the models, make them better.

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Get the earlier warning signals
out for places like NOAA

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the National Weather Service

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and each earth satellite that we put

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up there is a part of that.

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- Absolutely. We, we assimilate the data

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from all of our observing systems.

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And as you said, capture it in models

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and it's the models that give
us the predictive capability.

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The observations tell
us what's happening now

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but it's the models that
help us see into the future.

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And that's really where
we get the maximum benefit

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from these observations.

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- That's great. We've got another question

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on Facebook from Genie asking

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how did you personally
get into earth science?

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- Ah well, so going all the way back to

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to my undergraduate days, I

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I loved physics and engineering
and, uh and I found my way

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into a terrific graduate
program that really

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that looked at earth
science from end to end.

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And I always loved solving problems.

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Uh you know, I did puzzles

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as a kid and I was always
romping around, out in nature.

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So this seemed like a great marriage

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and that graduate program
was had a hardware element.

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We built instruments, we
took them to the field

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we did scientific work
and we presented the work.

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And so it really perfectly prepared me

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for a career to get to where I am today.

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Right? Where were we

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we look at that whole end-to-end
scientific value chain,

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but I I'm here because I love this earth.

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I, and honestly

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the other part about earth
science, you know, we, we talk

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about the earth a lot, but
it's really about the people

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because you know, the,
the, the earth changes.

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It, it in, in the earth is resilient.

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The question for us is how are

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how resilient are we going to be

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in the face of these changes?

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And so it's, that's a big
motivator for me as well.

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- Well, Karen that's right.

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We all live on this earth together

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and it's all our jobs to protect it.

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That's for sure.

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- Absolutely.

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- Thank you so much for
joining us here today.

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- Thank you so much.

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It's great to be here
and, and see the hardware.

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- Yes. Wonderful. Safe travels back home.

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- Thank you.

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- Remember if you'd like to
ask the mission a question

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just make sure you pop that question

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in the comment box and
we'll try to get it answered

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for you as we head into
the rest of the program.

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Now here at JPL

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we have been completing some
very critical testing on SWOT

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which you can see right
here in the clean room.

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And this testing is very
important because it makes sure

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that the satellite can survive
launch and be in space.

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Now, SWOT is getting ready
to be shipped to France

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soon, as our partners
CNES the French Space

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Agency finished preparing
the satellite for launch.

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So joining me right now is
project manager, Parag Vaze.

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Good morning, Parag.

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- Good morning Marina.

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Happy to be here. I'm excited.

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- So excited. I know!

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- Excited, really excited
with what you just saw.

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So we're, we're very happy and

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and getting prepared for our next step.

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- That's so great. And it's
so amazing to see it here

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in all its glory and SWOT
is right below us here.

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Can you tell us a little
bit about how it works

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and what your team's going to
be doing to prepare to ship it

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over to France in the
next couple of weeks?

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- Right. So, first of all

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what you're seeing is the
product of about 10 years

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of work with hundreds of
people, engineers, scientists

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and one of the major features of

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of what you're seeing here is really all

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of the instrumentation for the satellite

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what's called the payload module.

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Within that we have six
intr- science instruments

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along with all of the supporting hardware.

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And then one of the main
features that we have

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for SWOT that really sets it
apart is a new radar system.

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That's called the KA Band
Radar Interferometer it's,

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it does a very high precision,
wide swath measurement.

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So we really want to be
able to sense the water,

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the water height, the water
slope, all across the world.

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And uh this radar system
will basically bounce signals

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to the surface, receive
them to the two antennas

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and help us understand the height and the

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and the slope of the, of, of
the water that we're seeing.

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- And can you point KaRin out to us?

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- Yeah, so KaRin, first of
all, is the things that you see

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are are actually not as visible, but the

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all of the white structure
that you see sort of

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the bottom two thirds of
the payload module houses

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all of the electronics,
but the basic biggest,

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visible feature are the antennas
that are stowed right now.

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They're large antennas.

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That'll basically deploy
out and then extend out.

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And that'll be about 15 feet on each side

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along with about 10 feet
of antennas on each side.

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So that is the main visible feature.

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And all the electronics are
inside the payload module.

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- Now we've talked

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about all the critical testing
we've been doing here at JPL.

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Why is that important?

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I know they're doing
metrology testing today

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- Right, so first of all

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what we do as we're
developing the whole system

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is we build each system,
we test each system

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we then assemble it

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to the next higher level of
integration and test it again.

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And this is right now has finished all

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of the functional performance
and environmental testing.

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So the environmental testing
is that last piece to check

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that it's ready for space.

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It's not only ready for space

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but it's ready for the ride to space.

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And it's very important to make sure so

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that when we get to that next
step, we don't discover some

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some sort of new features that
we have to go back and fix

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but we're in very good shape.

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We've completed all of that
testing and ready to mate

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with our hardware, which is
our spacecraft bus provided

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by the French Space Agency in France.

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- So shipping off to
the French Space Agency

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in the next couple weeks.

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- Shipping of to, yeah.

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And at the end of June, we're planning

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on shipping this whole structure
out to France and mating it

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with the spacecraft
platform, which will be about

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about two-thirds of what you see here and

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and mating that whole structure together.

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And then starting, it's a
final journey toward testing.

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And then, and then launch

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- Later next year.

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And we talked about your
journey many times, Parag

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your entire career has been

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on earth science mission now for decades.

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And we're getting a lot of
great social media questions.

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And this one's awesome
from Edgar on Facebook

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asking what were and are your inspirations

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for this concept, informing
the SWOT satellite?

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And like you said

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your journey been on all
earth science missions.

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So what has made this one stand out?

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- So, first of all, I, I got
into really being fascinated

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with satellites in space, even as a child

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but really I was fortunate to work

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in earth science because it's
something very tangible to me.

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We see results of that very quickly

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from the projects that we've worked on.

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And almost every project we we've set

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out we've achieved that
goal, but what's really

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exciting is all the things we
learned that we didn't expect.

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And that every time we do one
of these satellite campaigns

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it's very exciting to not only see what we

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we of course expected, but all

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of the tremendous
possibilities that it opens

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up and that's going to be
really the future for SWOT

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because we're expecting
a brand new measurement

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over the inland waters and
exploring that whole area.

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That's, that's not really
been seen before as a

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as a full world.

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- And keying that information in for folks

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at home here is that SWOT
will see the inland water

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which we haven't been able to see before.

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So tell us why that's impactful.

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- Yeah. So SWOT, the name,
it doesn't say oceans

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it says surface water, right?

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So all of the water that
we are able to sense

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from space, oceans,
rivers, any larger body

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of water that we are able to observe

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we're going to see that
it's going to be one

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of those features that we
really haven't seen before

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for fresh water on
hydrology as we call it.

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And that's something that
is really tremendous again

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in everyday life.

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I don't need to explain

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to people how important it
is to have fresh water coming

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that they're using daily.

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Right? So that connection

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of understanding is, is just tremendous.

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- And along those lines

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how will SWOT help those
people who are impacted

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by those bodies of water
who live near those bodies?

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- Right. Right.

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So Karen just talked a little bit earlier

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about how we use the data
and provide the data.

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So our plan is to provide
that data very quickly, maybe

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within a few days of exactly
what we're, we're observing

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there's lots of direct
applications that are happening.

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And then of course, providing that data

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for understanding other
patterns as we go out further

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but things where we're have
floods, we want to understand

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and provide that data as
quickly as we can for the people

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the decision-makers and SWOT
within just a overflight

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within a few days, we'll be
able to provide very clear maps

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of exactly what's happening.

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- Our next question comes from Bradley

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on Facebook asking will
SQAT be utilizing SAR

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data harmonization with SMAPP and NISAR

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measurements would be
a fantastic application

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for modeling future ecosystem scenarios.

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- Right, so yes, it's, it's
using interferometric SAR

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synthetic aperture radar.

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That is the key to the
new current instrument.

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And yes, it's our goal that
the measurements that SWOT is

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providing stand alone
are very power- powerful

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but really combined with
NISAR and other data sets

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and observations is really
going to be a tremendous amount

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of additional information to
answer those tough questions

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- And Emerson on Facebook
asks, what is the type

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of technology you use
to make the measurements

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which is a little along what
you were just talking about.

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- Right? So, you know, the, the genesis

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of this idea is actually
from a prior shuttle

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mission called the Shuttle
Radar Topography Mission.

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So the basic concept

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of interferometry has been
demonstrated and used before.

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That was actually used
to sense the solid earth

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and map the solid earth.

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And we thought, hey, why can't
we do this for the ocean?

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And, and we can, we, it
turns out we can do it.

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It is a tough problem to do

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because those measurements really have to

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be done very high power
radar, lots of data

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and lots of stability.

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You name it.

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Everything is about stability

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but we were able to have
that technology to design

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in that stability and those capabilities

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and data processing, even
on board to enable this now.

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00:16:09,250 --> 00:16:11,210
- Well, thanks so much
for joining us here, Parag

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00:16:11,210 --> 00:16:12,410
and good luck to you and your team

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00:16:12,410 --> 00:16:14,710
as you prepare to ship off to France.

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00:16:14,710 --> 00:16:15,543
- Thank you.

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00:16:15,543 --> 00:16:16,376
We're really excited.

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00:16:16,376 --> 00:16:19,030
And we're excited to see
everybody following us

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in our journey.

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00:16:19,980 --> 00:16:20,813
- That's wonderful.

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00:16:20,813 --> 00:16:22,290
Thank you so much, Parag.

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00:16:22,290 --> 00:16:24,620
Now, as we mentioned before,
SWOT is going to be launching

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from Vandenberg Air Force Base

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00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:30,540
which is in central California
in November of 2022.

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00:16:30,540 --> 00:16:33,810
So late next year, and taking a final look

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00:16:33,810 --> 00:16:35,890
at SWOT here in the clean room

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you can get the very
latest from this mission.

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00:16:38,220 --> 00:16:41,160
Just follow @NASAJPL and @NASAEarth

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00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:44,500
on Twitter and Facebook, and
for more in-depth information

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00:16:44,500 --> 00:16:49,500
visit swot.jpl.nasa.gov
at NASA earth science.

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Your home is our mission.

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Thank you so much for watching