Remote-Sensing Technologies

This subtopic solicits component- to subsystem-level technologies that advance remote sensing instruments for Earth Science, Planetary Science, and Astrophysics missions. The scope includes Active Microwave, Passive Microwave, and LiDAR technologies that enable measurements of the atmosphere, surface, subsurface, oceans, cryosphere, and planetary bodies. Emphasis is placed on innovations that improve performance while reducing size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C), and that are suitable for maturation by small businesses and transition toward future NASA missions. Although these sensing modalities address distinct measurement objectives, they share common technical challenges, including calibration stability, environmental robustness, long-term reliability, and deployment on spaceborne, airborne, and distributed platforms. Advances in enabling components, subsystems, and techniques are increasingly required to support next-generation observing architectures such as SmallSats, CubeSats, constellations, and other resource-constrained platforms with demanding performance requirements. Priority technology needs within this unified Remote Sensing Technology subtopic are organized by sensing modality: Active Microwave, Passive Microwave, and LiDAR. Each area emphasizes time-critical technology gaps at approximately TRL 3 5, with clear mission relevance, well-defined performance metrics, and realistic paths to infusion into future NASA science missions. LiDAR: Lidar systems provide high-resolution measurements of atmospheric composition, winds, aerosols, clouds, surface topography, and planetary terrain for Earth science, planetary science, and spacecraft navigation applications. Technologies are sought that reduce system complexity and SWaP-C while enabling new or enhanced measurement capabilities from ground-based, airborne, and space-based platforms. Advances of interest include next-generation laser and detection architectures that support key lidar modalities such as backscatter profiling, spectral absorption, altimetry, and Doppler wind sensing, addressing critical observational gaps in current and future missions.