Spatial heterodyne spectroscopy has become increasingly attractive for remote sensing of the atmosphere from microsatellites. Its outstanding light gathering power makes this technology particularly suitable for the detection of faint signals with minimal volume requirements. This paper is about an instrument, which was designed to measure the spectral shape of an atmospheric oxygen emission. The near infrared emission is observed in limb viewing geometry from space. The optical setup and specific characteristics of the design are presented. A focus is on the straylight behaviour of the system. In-field and out-of-field contributions are discussed. Straylight kernels are applied to expected background radiation fields with regard to performance-limiting factors of the system.
A highly miniaturized limb sounder for the observation of the O2 A-band to derive temperatures in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere is presented. The instrument consists of a monolithic spatial heterodyne spectrometer, which is able to resolve the rotational structure of that band. The SHS operates at a Littrow wavelength of 762 nm with a resolving power in the order of 10.000. Complemented by a front optics with an acceptance angle of less than ±1 degree and a detector optics, the entire optical system fits into a volume of about 1.5 liters. This allows this instrument to be flown on a three or six unit CubeSat. In this paper, we introduce the optical design and computer simulations on the expected performance of the instrument. The laboratory characterization of a prototype instrument, which has been built on university level, and the lessons learned are discussed.
This article presents the characterization and analysis of a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) CMOS detector utilized in a miniaturized satellite payload for atmospheric temperature measurements. To evaluate the performance of the selected CMOS detector, a series of tests were performed. The temperature dependent dark current, the readout noise and the system gain are determined, which are provided for the subsequent system performance evaluation and data processing. A case study is established to simulate the space radiation effect to determine the needed shielding thickness on the instrument. The effect of radiation damage on the CMOS image sensors is investigated using a Co-60 Gamma radiation source.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.