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At least 181 records · Page 10

MODIS Pre-launch and On-orbit Calibration

Two nearly identical MODIS instruments are currently operated on-orbit: one on-board the EOS Terra spacecraft launched in December 1999 and the other on-board the Aqua spacecraft launched in May 2002. Both sensors went through extensive pre-launch calibration and characterization activities that had provided many critically important parameters and sensor characteristics in support of their on-orbit operation and calibration. On-orbit each MODIS instrument is calibrated and characterized via a set of on-board calibrators (OBC) that include a solar diffuser (SD), a solar diffuser stability monitor (SDSM), a blackbody (BB), and a spectroradiometric calibration assembly (SRCA). This paper provides an overview of MODIS calibration and characterization methodologies and measurements performed, pre-launch and on-orbit, for both the reflective solar bands (RSB) and thermal emissive bands (TEB). It discusses issues on the calibration transfer from ground to on-board and from pre-launch to on-orbit, and illustrates the calibration consistency between Terra and Aqua MODIS. Examples in three key areas, radiometric, spatial, and spectral, are presented. Also addressed in the paper are the challenges and lessons learned during MODIS pre-launch and on-orbit calibration and performance.

Xiong, X.↗

JPSS-1 VIIRS Pre-Launch Response Versus Scan Angle Testing and Performance

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instruments on-board both the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) and the first Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS-1) spacecraft, with launch dates of October 2011 and December 2016 respectively, are cross-track scanners with an angular swath of +/-56.06 deg. A four-mirror Rotating Telescope Assembly (RTA) is used for scanning combined with a Half Angle Mirror (HAM) that directs light exiting from the RTA into the aft-optics. It has 14 Reflective Solar Bands (RSBs), seven Thermal Emissive Bands (TEBs) and a panchromatic Day Night Band (DNB). There are three internal calibration targets, the Solar Diffuser, the BlackBody and the Space View, that have fixed scan angles within the internal cavity of VIIRS. VIIRS has calibration requirements of 2% on RSB reflectance and as tight as 0.4% on TEB radiance that requires the sensor's gain change across the scan or Response Versus Scan angle (RVS) to be well quantified. A flow down of the top level calibration requirements put constraints on the characterization of the RVS to 0.2%-0.3% but there are no specified limitations on the magnitude of response change across scan. The RVS change across scan angle can vary significantly between bands with the RSBs having smaller changes of approximately 2% and some TEBs having approximately 10% variation. Within aband, the RVS has both detector and HAM side dependencies that vary across scan. Errors in the RVS characterization will contribute to image banding and striping artifacts if their magnitudes are above the noise level of the detectors. The RVS was characterized pre-launch for both S-NPP and JPSS-1 VIIRS and a comparison of the RVS curves between these two sensors will be discussed.

Moyer, David↗

Electromagnetic Compatibility Design, Implementation and Test of the SMAP Spacecraft to Meet Stringent L-Band Radiated Emissions Requirements

This paper describes the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements on the NASA SMAP mission, the implementation of EMC best practices at various levels of development in subsystems packaging and system level cabling harnesses, and the testing and result s of flight hardware at the sub system and spacecraft system levels.

Huang, Chi-Chien Nelson↗

Electromagnetic Compatibility Design, Implementation and Test of the SMAP Spacecraft to Meet Stringent L-Band Radiated Emissions Requirements

This paper describes the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements on the NASA SMAP mission, the implementation of EMC best practices at various levels of development in system level cabling harnesses and subsystems packaging, and the testing and results of flight hardware at the subsystem and spacecraft system levels.

Huang, Chi-Chien Nelson↗

JPSS-2 VIIRS Day-Night Band Pre-launch Radiometric Calibration and Performance

The first two flight models of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument continue to operate onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) and NOAA-20 spacecrafts. The third flight model is set to be launched as one of a complement of instruments onboard the Joint Polar–orbiting Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) satellite. In addition to its 14 reflective solar bands and 7 thermal emissive bands, VIIRS has a unique Day-Night Band (DNB). The DNB is a panchromatic imager based on CCD detectors, covering a spectral range of about 500 – 900 nm. The DNB is made up of three gain stages, allowing the sensor to operate over a large dynamic range (3×10(−9) - 0.02 W⁄cm(2)/sr). As part of VIIRS pre-launch ground testing, the DNB has been characterized to determine its functionality and performance under a space-like environment. The results are compared against the design specification and to previous VIIRS flight models when applicable. This paper presents a comprehensive summary of the VIIRS DNB prelaunch testing and the results of radiometric and spectral assessments. The expected impact to on-orbit operations and calibrated data products are also discussed.

Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)↗

Jpss-4 VIIRS Polarization Sensitivity Performance Comparison With Heritage VIIRS Sensors

The Joint Polar Satellite System 4 (JPSS-4) is the follow-on for the Suomi-National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) and Joint Polar Satellite Systems 1-3 (JPSS-1, -2 and -3) missions. A primary sensor on both JPSS and S-NPP spacecrafts is the Visible-Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) that provides valuable weather and climate products to the user community. VIIRS covers the Reflective Solar Band (RSB) and Thermal Emissive Band (TEB) spectral regions and contains a Day Night Band (DNB) that uses Lunar illumination at night. VIIRS provides top-of-atmosphere radiance, reflectance, and brightness temperature within the Sensor Data Records (SDRs) that are used in sea surface temperature, cloud characterization, land surface properties and ocean color/chlorophyll Environmental Data Record (EDR) products. The SDR calibration is performed using unpolarized sources such as a Solar Diffuser (SD) for the RSBs or an On-Board Calibrator BlackBody (OBCBB) for the TEBs. Earth scenes with polarizing properties will create radiometric bias errors within the SDRs based on how sensitive VIIRS is to polarized illumination and must be corrected in some EDR algorithms. This paper will discuss the JPSS-4 VIIRS polarization characterization methodology, polarization sensitivity results and compare its performance to its predecessors S-NPP and JPSS-1 through -3 VIIRS.

David Moyer↗

Aqua MODIS: 20 Years of On-orbit Calibration and Performance

Since its launch in May 2002, Aqua MODIS has successfully operated for more than 20 years and has continuously generated a wide range of data products that have enabled and supported the remote sensing community and users worldwide for their studies of the Earth’s system by monitoring changes in its key environmental parameters. Although Aqua MODIS, designed with a lifetime requirement of 6 years, is currently operated in its extended mission phase, it continues to make high quality global observations of the Earth’s surface via its 36 spectral bands that cover wavelengths from visible to long-wave infrared. To date, all instrument on-board calibrators (OBC) remain capable of performing their design functions, providing various calibration data sets to help monitor on-orbit changes in sensor responses and performance characteristics. In addition to the OBC, regularly scheduled lunar observations and select Earth-view targets are used extensively to support sensor on-orbit calibration, especially for the calibration of the visible channels (or bands). In this paper, we provide an overview of Aqua MODIS on-orbit calibration activities and methodologies for both reflective solar bands (RSB) and thermal emissive bands (TEB), illustrate its on-orbit performance over the past 20 years using examples derived from OBC measurements, lunar observations, and Earth-view response trends, and describe various calibration improvements made over its entire mission. We focus on key issues identified since launch, such as solar diffuser degradation, electronic crosstalk, and on-orbit changes in sensor response versus scan-angle, along with approaches and strategies developed to mitigate their impact on sensor calibration quality. Also discussed in this paper are some of the key calibration enhancements incorporated recently in the Collection 6.1 and the upcoming Collection 7 Level-1B algorithms.

Polarization↗

Radio emissions from the aurora

Observations are reported of radio waves in the range 2.5-6 MHz, emitted by the aurora. Two distinct types of emissions are seen: bursts, which are broad band emissions with a time scale of the order of .1 sec, and roars, which are narrow band (300 kHz) emissions with a time scale of ten minutes.

Kellogg, P. J.↗

Incident excitation effects on ZnO-based photoluminescence

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is an attractive semiconductor material owing to a wide band gap, large exciton binding energy, and strong luminescent properties. Two distinct spectral regions are present in the room temperature emission of this material: a narrow line in the UV/near-UV region that is excitonic in nature and a lower energy broad emission band centered in the green/yellow region. Commercially available ZnO particles containing excess Zn and oxygen vacancy defect sites (referred to as ZnO:Zn) were excited using three light sources to study different radiative recombination regimes of the as-received powders. First, a UV LED at a center wavelength of 365 nm provided low irradiance (0.02–0.08 W/cm 2 ) with varying pulse widths (continuous operation to 16 ns). Second, the third harmonic of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser provided high irradiances (∼10 4 –10 6 W/cm 2 ) at a fixed nominal pulse width of 5 ns. Finally, a continuous polychromatic synchrotron X-ray source was also used to excite the ZnO:Zn powders. During UV LED excitation, a low number of carriers are created in the material, leading to an anticipated linear relationship between luminescence and irradiance. This held true for defect luminescence; however, there was an observed enhancement of exciton emission relative to the UV LED intensity as the pulse width was decreased, independent of irradiance. During UV laser excitation, the number of carriers was significantly increased, raising the material into a bimolecular recombination regime, which produced exciton emission much stronger than visible band emission. Finally, spectra obtained during synchrotron X-ray excitation, whose continuous illumination and higher penetration depth yielded higher emission from defect sites relative to exciton emission. A redshift in the exciton emission was also observed as excitation pulse width and sample temperature were varied, and is discussed.

Westphal, Eric Robert [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-N↗

Infrared emission spectra of candidate interstellar aromatic molecules

Interstellar dust is responsible, through surface reactions, for the creation of molecular hydrogen, the main component of the interstellar clouds in which new stars form. Intermediate between small, gas-phase molecules and dust are the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Such molecules could account for 2-30% of the carbon in the Galaxy, and may provide nucleation sites for the formation of carbonaceous dust. Although PAHs have been proposed as the sources of the unidentified infrared emission bands that are observed in the spectra of a variety of interstellar sources, the emission characteristics of such molecules are still poorly understood. Here we report laboratory emission spectra of several representative PAHs, obtained in conditions approximating those of the interstellar medium, and measured over the entire spectral region spanned by the unidentified infrared bands. We find that neutral PAHs of small and moderate size can at best make only a minor contribution to these emission bands. Cations of these molecules, as well as much larger PAHs and their cations, remain viable candidates for the sources of these bands.

Non-NASA Center↗

On-Orbit Operation and Performance of MODIS Blackbody

MODIS collects data in 36 spectral bands, including 20 reflective solar bands (RSB) and 16 thermal emissive bands (TES). The TEB on-orbit calibration is performed on a scan-by-scan basis using a quadratic algorithm that relates the detector response with the calibration radiance from the sensor on-board blackbody (BB). The calibration radiance is accurately determined each scan from the BB temperature measured using a set of 12 thermistors. The BB thermistors were calibrated pre-launch with traceability to the NIST temperature standard. Unlike many heritage sensors, the MODIS BB can be operated at a constant temperature or with the temperature continuously varying between instrument ambient (about 270K) and 315K. In this paper, we provide an overview of both Terra and Aqua MODIS on-board BB operations, functions, and on-orbit performance. We also examine the impact of key calibration parameters, such as BB emissivity and temperature (stability and gradient) determined from its thermistors, on the TEB calibration and Level I (LIB) data product uncertainty.

Xiong, X.↗

Quantum cascade laser with bound-to-quasi-continuum optical transitions at a temperature of up to 371 K

Based on a matched Ga{sub 0.47}In{sub 0.53}As/Al{sub 0.48}In{sub 0.52}As heteropair, we have developed a quantum cascade laser emitting at a wavelength of 7.4 μm. The chosen heterostructure with a relatively large number of quantum wells and barriers represents two mini-bands separated by a mini-gap with a localised doublet level near the upper mini-band, which provides a wide emission band (∼100 cm{sup −1}). In a pulse regime, the maximal laser operation temperature is 371 K. Such a high temperature is explained by two factors: a large energy of the transfer from the doublet to the upper mini-band and a large volt defect. The characteristic temperatures T{sub 0} are found, which are equal to 170 K for low (less than 300 K) temperatures and 270 K for the range of 300 − 370 K. In addition, optical cavity losses are determined to be 2.5 and 7.7 cm{sup −1} at temperatures of 80 and 254 K, respectively. The pulse power is 0.3 W at 80 K and 0.05 W at 293 K. (lasers, active media)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

High resolution spectral analyses of the Jovian decametric radiation. I - Burst morphology and drift rates

Morphological analyses of high-resolution spectral recordings of Jovian decametric radiation show a regime of phenomena not seen at lower resolutions. Observed emissions range from narrow-band (50 kHz) simple quasi-periodic bursts to wide-band emissions (extending over a 500-kHz passband) exhibiting complex structural detail. Assuming gyroemission from electrons in a dipole field for which the magnetic moment is 10 Gauss Jupiter-radius-cubed, drift-rate measurements of the bursts indicate that the source size is of the order of 600 km and its location is near 1.3 Jupiter radii at a colatitude of 27.3 deg. The measurements suggest that the emitting electrons belong to a population having a very specific equatorial pitch angle near 3.5 deg. This study concludes that it may be possible to verify gyroemission as the mechanism responsible for the decametric radiation.

Krausche, D. S.↗