Principal Investigator: Scott J. Janz, Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology UMBC - GSFC
Proposal Title: Compact Hyperspectral Mapper for Environmental Remote Sensing Applications (CHyMERA)
The goals for CHyMERA will be to design, build, and test an instrument that will reduce size, mass, and cost and increase science potential and flexibility for future atmospheric remote sensing missions within the focus of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise (ESE). The primary effort of the development plan will be on high spatial resolution ozone, NO2, SO2, aerosol, and cloud measurements, but it is hoped that the techniques developed will prove useful for other measurements as well. The core design will involve a high performance, wide field-of-view (FOV) front end telescope which will illuminate a filter/focal plane array (FFPA) package. The use of a non-dispersive optical configuration will reduce size, mass and complexity. The wide FOV optics will permit short duration global coverage (1-2 days) without the need for a scanner. The first phase of CHyMERA consists of a requirements analysis and design. During this phase the technology requirements needed to meet the science goals will be identified. This will include for example the identification of the wavelength bands and resolution of the filter elements. Radiative transfer simulations will be performed to define the signal-to-noise needed for each atmospheric constituent. Also during this period, requirements will be developed, along with our industry partners, for the construction of the FFPA package and the wide-angle telescope. Laboratory testing of prototype subsystems will also be performed during this period. Upon successful completion of phase I, we will begin building and testing an engineering model of the instrument. Each component will be tested separately to verify performance before integrating the entire instrument. Because we plan to utilize the ultraviolet portion of the spectrum our main focus during the verification phase will be on radiometric stability. As part of the verification and validation of the instrument performance we will carry out ground based inter-comparisons with existing spectrometers by simultaneous viewing of the sky radiance. The entire program is estimated to be complete in 2 years.