Earth System Science Pathfinder
The Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) Program is a science-driven Program designed to provide an innovative approach to Earth science research by providing periodic, competitively selected opportunities to accommodate new and emergent scientific priorities. ESSP Projects include developmental, high-risk, high-return Earth Science missions including advanced remote sensing instrument approaches to achieve these priorities, and often involve partnerships with other U.S. agencies and/or with international science and space organizations. These Projects are capable of supporting a variety of scientific objectives related to Earth science, including the atmosphere, oceans, land surface, polar ice regions and solid earth. Projects include development and operation of space missions, space-based remote sensing instruments for missions of opportunity, and airborne science missions, and the conduct of science research utilizing data from these missions. ESSP missions encompass the entire Project life-cycle from definition, through design, development, integration and test, launch, operations, science data analysis, distribution and archival.
This approach gives NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) the flexibility to take advantage of opportunities arising from domestic and international cooperative efforts or technical innovation, and is consistent with recommendations issued by the National Research Council in their 2007 report, Earth Science and Applications from Space: National Imperatives for the Next Decade and Beyond (the Decadal Survey).
ESSP is home to NASA’s Earth Venture (EV) class of missions: a series of uncoupled, relatively low-to-moderate cost, small to medium-sized, competitively selected, full orbital missions (EVF), instruments for orbital missions of opportunity (EVi) and sub-orbital projects (EVS), legacy ESSP Projects: Projects selected under prior Announcements of Opportunity that are currently in operations, and non-competitive, directed Projects: projects that are designed to meet unique needs such as the replacement of a mission that did not fulfill its intended mission requirements.
Project-level requirements for each Project are approved by SMD at the time of Project confirmation prior to the start of Project implementation. The Principal Investigator for each competitively selected Project is responsible for the overall success of the Project, and is accountable to NASA for the success of the mission. Project teams may include university, industry, government, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers and international partners, as desired by the Principal Investigator.
Contact ESSP
- Frank Peri
Program Director, Earth System Science Pathfinder Program Office - Gregory Stover
Deputy Program Director, Earth System Science Pathfinder Program Office - Questions About the ESSP Program
- Questions About the ESSP Missions
- Questions About the Earth Venture-1 Investigations
- Questions About the ESSP Program Page
Solicitation Schedule
| Solicitation Release Year | ||||||
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| EVS | (none) | EVF, EVi | EVi | EVS, EVi | EVi | EVF, EVi |
Key
- EVS: Earth Venture Sub-Orbital solicitation
- EVF: Earth Venture Full Orbital Mission solicitation
- EVi: Earth Venture Instruments solicitation
Acquisition-specific information can be found on the Science Office for Mission Assessments website
EV-2 Draft Announcement of Opportunity
ESSP Program Library and Information
- ESSP Program Library
- Instrument Developments & Earth Venture
- Earth Science Lessons Learned (.xlxs file download)
ESSP Missions
Earth Venture Sub-Orbital Investigations
*Sort missions by clicking the column headers.
| Division | Name | Launch Date | Phase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earth |
Aquarius
Aquarius is a focused satellite mission to measure global sea surface salinity (SSS). Its instruments will measure changes in SSS equivalent to about a "pinch" (i.e., 1/6 of a teaspoon) of salt in 1 gallon of water. By measuring SSS ... | 20110610 June 10, 2011 | 3Operating |
| Earth |
CALIPSO
The CALIPSO satellite was developed to help scientists answer significant questions and provide new information about the effects of clouds and aerosols (airborne particles) on changes in the Earth's climate. Understanding these components will provide the international science community with ... | 20060428 April 28, 2006 | 3Operating |
| Earth |
CloudSat
CloudSat uses advanced radar to "slice" through clouds to see their vertical structure, providing a completely new observational capability from space. CloudSat is one of the first satellites to study clouds on a global basis. This mission is part of ... | 20060428 April 28, 2006 | 3Operating |
| Earth |
GRACE
The primary goal of the GRACE mission is to accurately map variations in the Earth's gravity field over its 5-year lifetime. This provides scientists from all over the world with an efficient and cost-effective way to map the Earth's gravity ... | 20020317 March 17, 2002 | 3Operating |
| Earth |
OCO
OCO provides space-based observations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal human-initiated driver of climate change. This mission uses mature technologies to address NASA's highest priority carbon cycle measurement requirement. OCO will generate precise global maps of the abundance of ... | 20090224 February 24, 2009 | 4Past |
| Earth |
OCO-2
The Orbiting Carbon Observatory -2 (OCO-2) is based on the original OCO mission that was developed under the NASA Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) Program Office and launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on February 24, 2009. Before spacecraft separation, ... | 20150101 2015 | 2Development |
*Sort missions by clicking the column headers.
| Division | Name | Launch Date | Phase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earth |
AirMOSS
North American ecosystems are critical components of the global carbon cycle, exchanging large amounts of carbon dioxide and other gases with the atmosphere. Root-zone soil measurements can be used to better understand these carbon fluxes and their associated uncertainties on ... | 20120301 March 2012 | 2Development |
| Earth |
ATTREX
Stratospheric water vapor has large impacts on the earth’s climate and energy budget. Future changes in stratospheric humidity and ozone concentration in response to changing climate are significant climate feedbacks. | 20130801 August 2013 | 2Development |
| Earth |
CARVE
The carbon budget of Arctic ecosystems is not known with confidence since fundamental elements of the complex Arctic biological-climatologic-hydrologic system are poorly quantified. CARVE will collect detailed measurements of important greenhouse gases on local to regional scales in the Alaskan ... | 20120301 March 2012 | 2Development |
| Earth |
DISCOVER-AQ
The overarching objective of the DISCOVER-AQ investigation is to improve the interpretation of satellite observations to diagnose near‐surface conditions relating to air quality. To diagnose air quality conditions from space, reliable satellite information on aerosols and ozone precursors is needed ... | 20110701 July 2011 | 3Operating |
| Earth |
HS3
Close to 100 million Americans now live within 50 miles of a coastline, thus exposing them to the potential destruction caused by a landfalling hurricane. While hurricane track prediction has improved in recent decades, improvements in hurricane intensity prediction have ... | 20120801 August 2012 | 2Development |