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At least 19 records

Landsat 9 TIRS-2 Performance Results Based on Subsystem-Level Testing

Landsat 9 is the next in the series of Landsat satellites and has a complement of two pushbroom imagers: Operational Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) that samples the solar reflective spectrum with nine channels and Thermal Infrared Sensor-2 (TIRS-2) samples the thermal infrared spectrum with two channels. The first builds of these sensors, OLI and TIRS, were launched on Landsat 8 in 2013 and Landsat 9 is expected to launch in December 2020. TIRS-2 is designed and built to continue the Landsat data record and satisfy the needs of the remote sensing community. There are two sets of requirements considered for planning the component, subsystem and instrument level tests for TIRS-2: performance requirements and Special Calibration Test Requirements (SCTR). The performance requirements specify key spectral, spatial, radiometric, and operational parameters of TIRS-2 while the SCTRs specify parameters of how the instrument is tested. Several requirements can only be verified at the instrument level, but many performance metrics can be assessed earlier in prelaunch testing at the subsystem level. A test program called TIRS Imaging Performance and Cryoshell Evaluation (TIPCE) was developed to characterize TIRS-2 spectral, spatial, and scattered-light rejection performance at the telescope and detector subsystem level. There were three thermal vacuum campaigns in TIPCE that occurred from November 2017 to March 2018. This work shows results of TIPCE data analysis which provide confidence that key requirements will be met at instrument level with a few minor waivers. A full complement of performance testing will be done at the TIRS-2 instrument level for final verification in late 2018 through Spring 2019.

scatter↗

Landsat 9 TIRS-2 Architecture and Design

TIRS-2 will fly on the LandSat 9. Like TIRS on Landsat 8, TIRS-2 will produce radiometrically calibrated, geo-located thermal image data. USGS is responsible for operational code. TIRS-2 image data will have the same performance characteristics as that of TIRS on Landsat 8 except better in some cases.

Thermal↗

Landsat 9 TIRS-2 Spectral Response Test: Updates & Perspective

The Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2) pre-launch spectral characterization at telescope and detector subsystem level provided a strong indication that the spectral response requirements will be met. Confidence in the validity of these results was strengthened through comparison to component-level measurements. This work reviews the modifications to the test setup to reduce spectral response uncertainties further in preparation for instrument-level testing. We developed a methodology to improve alignment repeatability of the upgraded system. Preliminary indications show that the spectral response will contribute a relatively small amount to the overall TIRS-2 radiometric uncertainty budget, which is expected to meet its radiometric requirements. Through spectral response testing, as part of a comprehensive pre-launch test program, TIRS-2 is expected to achieve the performance necessary for a variety of environmental applications.

Pearlman, Aaron↗

Landsat 9: Status and Plans

The Landsat 9 mission, currently under development and proceeding towards a targeted launch in late 2020, will be very similar to the Landsat 8 mission, launched in 2013. Like Landsat 8, Landsat 9 is a joint effort between NASA and USGS with two sensors, the Operational Land Imager 2 (OLI-2), essentially a copy of the OLI on Landsat 8 and the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2), very similar to the TIRS on Landsat 8. The OLI-2, like OLI, provides 14-bit image data, though for Landsat 9, all 14 bits will be retained and transmitted to the ground. The focal plane modules to be used for OLI-2 were flight spares for OLI and are currently being retested by Ball Aerospace. Results indicate radiometric performance comparable to OLI. The TIRS was a class C instrument, with a 3-year design lifetime, and therefore had limited redundancy. TIRS-2 will be a class B instrument, with a 5-year design lifetime, like OLI (and OLI-2), necessitating design changes to increase redundancy. The stray light and Scene Select Mechanism (SSM) encoder problems observed on orbit with TIRS have also instigated a few design changes to TIRS-2. Stray light analysis and testing have indicated that additional baffles in the TIRS-2 optical system will suppress the out-of-field response. The SSM encoder problems have not been definitively traced to a route cause, though conductive anodic filament growth in the circuit boards is suspected. Improved designs for the encoder are being considered for TIRS-2. The spare Focal Plane Array (FPA) from TIRS is planned for use in TIRS-2; FPA spectral and radiometric performance testing is scheduled for September of this year at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

Landsat↗

Initial Pre-Launch Imaging and Spectral Characterization of Landsat 9 Thermal Infrared Sensor-2

The Thermal Infrared Sensor-2 (TIRS-2) scheduled to launch in December 2020 aboard Landsat 9 will continue Landsat's four decade-long legacy of providing moderate resolution thermal imagery from low earth orbit (at 705 km) for environmental applications. Like the Thermal Infrared Sensor aboard Landsat 8, it is a pushbroom sensor with a cross-track field of view of 15 and provides two spectral channels at 10.8 and 12 micrometers To ensure radiometric, spatial, and spectral performance, a comprehensive pre-launch testing program is being conducted at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center at the component, subsystem, and instrument level. This effort will focus on the results from the subsystem level testing to assess TIRS-2 imaging performance including focus, spatial performance, and stray light rejection. It is also used to provide a preliminary assessment of spectral performance. The TIRS-2 subsystem is placed in a thermal vacuum chamber with the calibration ground support equipment, which provides a flexible blackbody illumination source and optics to assess imaging performance. Spectral performance is tested using a spectral response test setup with its own illumination source outside the chamber that propagates through the calibration ground support equipment in an optical configuration designed for this purpose. The results show that TIRS-2 performance is expected to meet all of its performance requirements with few waivers and deviations.

Landsat 9↗

Landsat 9 Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 Pre-Launch Characterization: Initial Imaging and Spectral Performance Results

The Thermal Infrared Sensor-2 (TIRS-2) scheduled to launch in December 2020 aboard Landsat 9 will continue Landsat's four decade-long legacy of providing moderate resolution thermal imagery from low earth orbit (at 705 km) for environmental applications. Like the Thermal Infrared Sensor aboard Landsat 8, it is a pushbroom sensor with a cross-track field of view of 15 and provides two spectral channels at 10.8 and 12 micrometers. To ensure radiometric, spatial, and spectral performance, a comprehensive pre-launch testing program is being conducted at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center at the component, subsystem, and instrument level. This effort will focus on the results from the subsystem level testing to assess TIRS-2 imaging performance including focus, spatial performance, and stray light rejection. It is also used to provide a preliminary assessment of spectral performance. The TIRS-2 subsystem is placed in a thermal vacuum chamber with the calibration ground support equipment, which provides a flexible blackbody illumination source and optics to assess imaging performance. Spectral performance is tested using a spectral response test setup with its own illumination source outside the chamber that propagates through the calibration ground support equipment in an optical configuration designed for this purpose. The results show that TIRS-2 performance is expected to meet all of its performance requirements with few waivers and deviations.

Landsat 9↗

Landsat 9 Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 Pre-Launch Characterization: Initial Imaging & Spectral Performance Results

The Thermal Infrared Sensor-2 (TIRS-2) scheduled to launch in December 2020 aboard Landsat 9 will continue Landsat's four decade-long legacy of providing moderate resolution thermal imagery from low earth orbit (at 705 km) for environmental applications. Like the Thermal Infrared Sensor aboard Landsat 8, it is a pushbroom sensor with a cross-track field of view of 15 and provides two spectral channels at 10.8 and 12 um. To ensure radiometric, spatial, and spectral performance, a comprehensive pre-launch testing program is being conducted at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center at the component, subsystem, and instrument level. This effort will focus on the results from the subsystem level testing to assess TIRS-2 imaging performance including focus, spatial performance, and stray light rejection. It is also used to provide a preliminary assessment of spectral performance. The TIRS-2 subsystem is placed in a thermal vacuum chamber with the calibration ground support equipment, which provides a flexible blackbody illumination source and optics to assess imaging performance. Spectral performance is tested using a spectral response test setup with its own illumination source outside the chamber that propagates through the calibration ground support equipment in an optical configuration designed for this purpose. The results show that TIRS-2 performance is expected to meet all of its performance requirements with few waivers and deviations.

scatter↗

Landsat 9 Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 Architecture and Design

The Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2) will fly aboard the Landsat 9 spacecraft and leverages the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) design currently flying on Landsat 8. TIRS-2 will provide similar science data as TIRS, but is not a buildto-print rebuild due to changes in requirements and improvements in absolute accuracy. The heritage TIRS design has been modified to reduce the influence of stray light and to add redundancy for higher reliability over a longer mission life. The TIRS-2 development context differs from the TIRS scenario, adding to the changes. The TIRS-2 team has also learned some lessons along the way.

Hair, Jason H.↗

LANDSAT 9 Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 Characterization Plan Overview

Landsat 9 will continue the Landsat data record into its fifth decade with a near-copy build of Landsat 8 with launch scheduled for December 2020. The two instruments on Landsat 9 are Thermal Infrared Sensor-2 (TIRS-2) and Operational Land Imager-2 (OLI-2). TIRS-2 is a two-channel pushbroom imager with a 15-degree field of view that will have a 16-day measurement cadence from its nominal 705-km orbit altitude. Its carefully developed instrument performance requirements and associated characterization plan will result in stable and well-understood science-quality imagery that will be used for environmental, economic and legal applications. This paper will present a summary of the plan for TIRS-2 prelaunch characterization at the component, subsystem, and instrument level.

thermal infrared remote sensing↗

LANDSAT 9 Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 Spectral Response Test: Updates and Perspective

The Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2) pre-launch spectral characterization at telescope and detector subsystem level provided a strong indication that the spectral response requirements will be met. Confidence in the validity of these results was strengthened through comparison to component-level measurements. This work reviews the modifications to the test setup to reduce spectral response uncertainties further in preparation for instrument-level testing. We developed a methodology to improve alignment repeatability of the upgraded system. Preliminary indications show that the spectral response will contribute a relatively small amount to the overall TIRS-2 radiometric uncertainty budget, which is expected to meet its radiometric requirements. Through spectral response testing, as part of a comprehensive pre-launch test program, TIRS-2 is expected to achieve the performance necessary for a variety of environmental applications.

spectral response↗

Landsat 9 Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 Preliminary Stray Light Assessment

Although the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2) is a nearidentical copy of the Landsat 8/TIRS-1 instrument, an important design change to the optical system was designed to mitigate the stray light issue that plagued the TIRS-1 instrument [1, 2, 3]. This change involved the addition of several baffles strategically placed within the optical telescope to block the stray light paths that were present in the TIRS- 1 design. The specific optical changes were determined by first characterizing the TIRS-1 stray light paths on-orbit and then deriving a detailed optical model that was used to determine the locations and shapes of the mitigating baffles. The stray light design changes to the TIRS-2 instrument were confirmed through the initial thermal-vacuum characterization tests. Preliminary assessments of TIRS-2 indicate that the total stray light magnitude has been drastically reduced to a total magnitude of approximately 1% or less.

Montanar, Matthew↗

Landsat 9 Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 Subsystem-Level Spectral Test Results

Results from the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2) prelaunch spectral characterization at telescope and detector subsystem level are presented. The derived relative spectral response (RSR) shape is expected to be very similar to the instrument-level spectral response and provides an initial estimate of the RSR and its differences to the component-level RSR measurements. Such differences were observed at TIRS- 1 and are likely a result of angular dependence of the spectral response of the detector. The subsystem RSR measurements also provide an opportunity for a preliminary assessment of the spectral requirements. Final requirements verification will be performed at future thermal vacuum environmental testing with the fully assembled TIRS-2 instrument.

TIRS-2↗

Gaps in Thermal Design Guidelines in the Goddard Space Flight Center GOLD Rules

The GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center) GOLD Rules (Goddard Open Learning Design; GSFC-STD-1000) provide a reasonably comprehensive list of guidelines for the design and testing of spacecraft and instruments based on the long heritage of successful GSFC missions. In general, all GSFC missions are required to comply with the GOLD Rules across a number of subsystems or to seek waivers to particular GOLD rules where compliance is not practical, either due to the risk posture of a mission or the cost and/or schedule associated with compliance. In thermal subsystems, GOLD Rules are applied to design margins throughout the project life cycle and include temperature margins, heater power margins, and two-phase transport margins. However, no explicit guidance is provided for two thermal design aspects: heater control authority (for stability requirements) and cryogenic design margins (which are often not reasonable to express in terms of temperatures). This can lead to ambiguity and inconsistency among projects when demonstrating GOLD Rules compliance. Two current GSFC projects, TIRS-2 (Thermal InfraRed Sensor 2) and WFIRST (Wide Field InfraRed Survey Telescope), are both missions with cryogenic aspects and active thermal control for stability. This paper seeks to outline the characterization of cryogenic margins during the design process for TIRS-2 and WFIRST as well as the project derived guidelines for heater control authority margin. This effort serves as potential first steps for updating the GOLD Rules to address these two areas in guiding thermal designs at GSFC.

Modeling↗

Design and Requirements Creep In A Build-To-Print Mission

Build-to-Print designs, or rebuilds of flight proven designs, are attractive to mission stakeholders, as they give the appearance of minimal engineering development cost, risk, and schedule. The reality is that seldom is a project an exact duplicate of a predecessor. Mission reclassification, improvements in hardware, and science objective changes can all serve as a source of requirements and design creep and have ramifications often not fully anticipated during initial proposals. The Thermal Infrared Sensor Instrument (TIRS) was a late addition to the LandSat-8 program to provide infrared imaging to measure evapotranspiration for water cycle management. To meet the launch requirements for LandSat-8, instrument design life requirements were relaxed, the sensor development expedited, and technology development was minimized. Consequently, TIRS was designed as a higher risk instrument, with less redundancy than an instrument critical to mission success. After the successful LandSat-8 launch in 2013 and instrument performance, a rebuild of the instrument for the next LandSat spacecraft was included in the baseline mission success criteria. This paper discusses the technical challenges encountered during the rebuild of the TIRS-2 (Thermal Infrared Sensor 2) instrument and the resultant impacts on the thermal system design.

TIRS-2 Thermal Design↗

Performance of the QWIP Focal Plane Array for NASA's Landsat 9 Mission

The flight focal plane array (FPA) for the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2) instrument, to be flown on Landsat 9, was built and characterized at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The FPA was assembled using GaAs quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP) arrays from the same lot as the TIRS instrument on Landsat 8. Each QWIP array is hybridized to an Indigo ISC9803 readout integrated circuit (ROIC) with 640 x 512, 25µm by 25µm pixels. Each QWIP hybrid was tested at the NASA/GSFC Detector Characterization Laboratory (DCL) as a single sensor chip assembly (SCA). The best SCAs in terms of performance were then built up into an FPA consisting of three SCAs, required to provide the necessary 15-degree field of view of the instrument. The FPA was tested to determine if project requirements were being met as a fully assembled unit. The performance of the QWIP SCAs and the fully assembled, NASA flight-qualified FPA will be reviewed.

Quantum well infrared photodiode↗

Landsat 9: Mission Status and Prelaunch Instrument Performance Characterization and Calibration

Landsat 9 is currently under development as a joint effort between NASA and the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Landsat 9 is essentially a rebuild of Landsat 8 and has the same two sensors, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the Thermal Imaging Sensor (TIRS). The OLI-2 on Landsat 9, is being built by Ball Aerospace and has completed its pre-launch characterization and calibration and is scheduled to be delivered in the summer of 2019. The TIRS-2, being built by Goddard Space Flight Center, is currently undergoing testing through Spring 2019 and also scheduled for summer 2019 delivery. Several improvements to the characterization of both instruments have been incorporated into the testing plan, including improved spectral and radiometric characterization. The instruments will then be integrated onto the spacecraft being built by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS). The mission is targeted to launch as early as December 2020 on an Atlas-5.

Markham, Brian↗

Landsat 9: Mission Status and Prelaunch Instrument Performance Characterization and Calibration

Landsat 9 is currently under development as a joint effort between NASA and the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Landsat 9 is essentially a rebuild of Landsat 8 and has the same two sensors, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the Thermal Imaging Sensor (TIRS). The OLI-2 on Landsat 9, is being built by Ball Aerospace and has completed its pre-launch characterization and calibration and is scheduled to be delivered in the summer of 2019. The TIRS-2, being built by Goddard Space Flight Center, is currently undergoing testing through Spring 2019 and also scheduled for summer 2019 delivery. Several improvements to the characterization of both instruments have been incorporated into the testing plan, including improved spectral and radiometric characterization. The instruments will then be integrated onto the spacecraft being built by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS). The mission is targeted to launch as early as December 2020 on an Atlas-5.

Markham, Brian↗