Title: Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) in Space: The Hyperspectral Microwave Photonic Instrument (HyMPI)
Presenting Author: Victor Torres
Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Co-Author(s): -

Abstract:
Atmospheric sounding from space-borne MW sensors has been providing critical information to generate accurate estimates of the Earth’s surface and atmospheric temperature, water vapor, and hydrometeors for the past fifty years. However, the large size, weight, power consumptions and costs (SWaP-C) constraints of RF technology have been a limiting factor to the number of sounding channels, impairing vertical information content and full applicability to numerical weather prediction (NWP). Developing a hyper-spectral microwave sounder using traditional RF techniques would make the mission cost-prohibitive. Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are an emerging technology that will enable a dramatic reduction in SWAP-C. The combination of this technology with Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC) will also enable hyperspectral resolution. This presentation will provide a status update on the Hyperspectral Microwave Photonic Instrument (HyMPI), a 2021 Instrument Incubator Program (IIP) funded project under development at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. This talk focuses on the details of the latest system performance of HyMPI.