The Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (cats): A Technology Demonstration on the International Space Station

The Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) is a multi-wavelength lidar instrument developed to enhance Earth Science remote sensing capabilities from the International Space Station. The CATS project was chartered to be an experiment in all senses: science, technology, and management. As a low-cost project following a strict build-to-cost/build-to-schedule philosophy, CATS is following a new management approach while also serving as a technology demonstration for future NASA missions. This presentation will highlight the CATS instrument and science objectives with emphasis on how the ISS platform enables the specific objectives of the payload. The development process used for CATS and a look at data being produced by the instrument will also be presented.