Design of Payload for Near-space Deployment of Infrared Optics
Project number:
21008
Sponsor:
UA College of Optical Sciences
Academic year:
2020-2021
Project Goal: Develop and design an instrument enclosure that protects and maintains operational parameters for the Infrared Channeled Spectro-Polarimeter, or IRCSP, which will be deployed on a high-altitude balloon flight.
Just recently, small and rapidly deployable instruments operating in long-wave infrared were not feasible due to costly and large cooling systems. In 2019, The University of Arizona Polarization Lab delivered the first InfraRed Channeled Spectro-Polarimeter, or IRCSP, prototype to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. It needed an enclosure that would protect the instrument and withstand conditions so that it could operate in long-wave infrared.
The enclosure can withstand harsh high-altitude conditions found in balloon flights of diminutive dimensions. It has low power consumption. In addition, the team developed an in-flight data acquisition and management system.
The IRCSP will measure the optical properties of cirrus ice clouds, which are crucial to increasing understanding of atmospheric sciences as outlined in the Earth Science Decadal Survey. It will be deployed in a future NASA balloon flight at an altitude of 39 kilometers over the southeastern United States. Testing the enclosure in this launch will reveal how it could benefit future Landsat missions.
Just recently, small and rapidly deployable instruments operating in long-wave infrared were not feasible due to costly and large cooling systems. In 2019, The University of Arizona Polarization Lab delivered the first InfraRed Channeled Spectro-Polarimeter, or IRCSP, prototype to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. It needed an enclosure that would protect the instrument and withstand conditions so that it could operate in long-wave infrared.
The enclosure can withstand harsh high-altitude conditions found in balloon flights of diminutive dimensions. It has low power consumption. In addition, the team developed an in-flight data acquisition and management system.
The IRCSP will measure the optical properties of cirrus ice clouds, which are crucial to increasing understanding of atmospheric sciences as outlined in the Earth Science Decadal Survey. It will be deployed in a future NASA balloon flight at an altitude of 39 kilometers over the southeastern United States. Testing the enclosure in this launch will reveal how it could benefit future Landsat missions.
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