Simultaneous multi-spectral narrow-band auroral imagery from space (1150A to 6300A2)
The design of a multi-mode instrument known as the Auroral Ionospheric Remote Sensor, AIRS, is described. The goal of the AIRS instrument is to produce data on the global imaging of the auroral display in both dark and sunlit hemispheres with the remote sensing of ionospheric airglows to deduce ionospheric parameters such as electron-density profiles and atmospheric background emissions. The AIRS will fly on a the POLAR BEAR spacecraft in a near-polar circular orbit at an altitude of 1000 km with a scheduled launch in the fall of 1986. The AIRS instrument is designed as a multi-mode system with four (4) channels of data to yield simultaneous operation in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV), near ultraviolet (UV), and visible spectral bands. Two of the data channels are designed to operate in the VUV with 30A windows having a 240A separation. These two channels utilize an Ebert-Fastile spectrometer which can provide total coverage for each of these channels from 1150A to 1800A. The other two channels utilize a filter selector system to provide preselected, 10A bandwidth spectral channels at 3371A, 3914A, and 6300A, and a 200A wide channel centered at 2250A. These spectral bands are paired to provide simultaneous pair coverage of 2250A and 3371A and simultaneous pair coverage of 3914A and 6300A. All four channels view the auroral scene of the north polar cap via appropriate optics and scan mirror system. In effect, a line-scan image of the auroral scene is produced via the scan mirror operating in the orbit cross plane with the longitudinal direction provided by the forward motion of the spacecraft.
- Research Organization:
- Air Force Geophysics Lab., Hanscom AFB, MA (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6267854
- Report Number(s):
- AD-A-181302/1/XAB; AFGL-TR-87-0167
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Pub. in SPIE, Vol. 687, 90-103(1986)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Uv (ultraviolet) ionospheric remote sensing with the Polar Bear satellite
Ground support electronic interface for the ionospheric spectroscopy and atmospheric chemistry (ISAAC) ultraviolet spectrograph. Master`s thesis
Related Subjects
GENERAL PHYSICS
AIRGLOW
IMAGES
AURORAE
IONOSPHERE
COLLIMATORS
DATA TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS
ELECTRON DENSITY
NEAR ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
POLAR REGIONS
ULTRAVIOLET SPECTROMETERS
VISIBLE SPECTRA
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
PLANETARY IONOSPHERES
RADIATIONS
SPECTRA
SPECTROMETERS
ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
640201* - Atmospheric Physics- Auroral
Ionospheric
& Magetospheric Phenomena