Title: An Airborne Sensor and Retrieval Project for Geostationary Trace Gas and Aerosol Sensor Optimization for the GEO-CAPE Mission
Author: James Leitch
Organization: Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation
Co-Authors: Tim Valle, Chuck Hardesty, Kelly Chance, Xiong Liu, Scott Janz, Ken Pickering, Jun Wang

Abstract:
The Geostationary Trace gas and Aerosol Sensor Optimization (Geo-TASO) Instrument Incubator project involves spectrometer development, airborne data campaigns, and algorithm testing ñ all in support of mission risk reduction for the UV-Vis trace gas and aerosol sensor for the GEO-CAPE mission. A compact, two-channel spectrometer approach for spectral radiance measurements will be built and readied for use on aircraft. The sensor provides a variably oversampled spectral passband to test measurement and retrieval algorithm performance sensitivity to spectral sampling. The ruggedized instrument will be flown to collect real scene data. Both laboratory test data and scene data will be used to test retrieval algorithm performance and retrieval sensitivity to sensor spectral parameters. The goals of the project are to inform the sensor and algorithm system definition for the Geo-CAPE mission and to demonstrate the compact spectrometer concept.