Enhancing Climate and Earth Science Research Through NASA’s CSDA Program and Spire Partnership
Technology Category
- Networks & Connectivity - Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)
- Sensors - GPS
Applicable Industries
- Aerospace
- Telecommunications
Applicable Functions
- Procurement
- Product Research & Development
Use Cases
- Behavior & Emotion Tracking
- Leasing Finance Automation
About The Customer
The customer in this case study is NASA, the United States’ civil space program. NASA is a global leader in space exploration, working with U.S. contractors, academics, international and commercial partners to discover and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity. NASA initiated the Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition (CSDA) Program in 2017 with the aim of identifying, evaluating, and acquiring commercial datasets to support its Earth science research and application goals. The program also aims to establish continuous and repeatable processes to bring on new commercial data vendors, enable the sustained use of purchased data, establish data management systems and processes, and coordinate with other U.S. Government agencies and international partners on the evaluation and scientific use of commercial data.
The Challenge
NASA, the United States’ civil space program, is a global leader in space exploration. It works with U.S. contractors, academics, international and commercial partners to expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity. One of the significant challenges NASA faces is supporting climate research and earth science. In 2017, NASA initiated the Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition (CSDA) Program with the Private-Sector Small Constellation Satellite Data Product Pilot Project. The program aimed to identify, evaluate, and acquire commercial datasets to support NASA’s Earth science research and application goals. However, the challenge was to establish continuous and repeatable processes to bring on new commercial data vendors, enable the sustained use of purchased data, establish data management systems and processes, and coordinate with other U.S. Government agencies and international partners on the evaluation and scientific use of commercial data.
The Solution
In March 2020, NASA awarded Spire a CSDA Program contract to provide Earth observation data in alignment with the program’s strategic objectives. Spire specializes in providing comprehensive Earth observation data and continues to develop and expand its offerings. The data covers extreme weather events, climate change trends, and surface data, such as soil moisture and sea ice. In April 2021, NASA renewed Spire’s CSDA Program contract under Task Order (TO) 6. The renewal made Spire’s unique weather, climate, and space weather data more accessible to NASA and U.S. Government-funded researchers. Spire operates a constellation in low Earth orbit (LEO) and collects upwards of 10,000 radio occultations (RO) per day with consistent global coverage. Spire’s RO data is archived and maintained by NASA under the CSDA Program’s SmallSat Data Explorer (SDX) database.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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