Title: The Geo-Cape ROIC In-Flight Experiment (GRIFEX) CubeSat Mission
Presenting Author: David Rider
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Abstract:
The Geo-Cape ROIC In-Flight Experiment (GRIFEX) is an ESTO funded CubeSat that was developed for on-orbit performance validation of a detector read out integrated circuit (ROIC) developed for the PanFTS instrument. PanFTS is an imaging Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS), also funded by ESTO, that is designed to continuously measure atmospheric composition from a geo-stationary orbit. The ROIC is a CMOS 128 X 128 60 m pixel array that operates at frame rates as high as 12 kHz. This enables the simultaneous acquisition of 16,384 atmospheric spectra when it is used in the focal plane of an imaging FTS. A FTS using a detector based on the Geo-Cape ROIC and placed in a geostationary orbit can provide sub-3 km spatial sampling on continental scales several times a day. GRIFEX is a 3-U CubeSat. It implements a Geo-Cape ROIC, hybridized to a Si PIN diode detector array, in a small camera to access the on-orbit performance of the ROIC. It was launched as an auxiliary payload on the SMAP launch vehicle together with three other CubeSats. It has operated nominally since it was turned on January 31, 2015. This paper will describe the GRIFEX program, including a brief description of the development, operations and validation results. The research described in this paper was performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contracts and cooperative agreements with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.