Instrument concepts and technologies for future spaceborne atmospheric radars

Eastwood Im; Stephen L. Durden

doi:10.1117/12.579066

11 January 2005 Instrument concepts and technologies for future spaceborne atmospheric radars

Eastwood Im, Stephen L. Durden

Proceedings Volume 5659, Enabling Sensor and Platform Technologies for Spaceborne Remote Sensing; (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.579066
Event: Fourth International Asia-Pacific Environmental Remote Sensing Symposium 2004: Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere, Ocean, Environment, and Space, 2004, Honolulu, Hawai'i, United States

Abstract

In conjunction with the implementation of spaceborne atmospheric radar flight missions, NASA is developing advanced instrument concepts and technologies for future spaceborne atmospheric radars, with the over-arching objectives of making such instruments more capable in supporting future science needs, and more cost effective. Two such examples are the Second-Generation Precipitation Radar (PR-2) and the Nexrad-In-Space (NIS). PR-2 is a 14/35-GHz dual-frequency rain radar with a deployable 5-meter, wide-swath scanned membrane antenna, a dual-polarized/dual-frequency receiver, and a real-time digital signal processor. It is intended for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) operations to provide greatly enhanced rainfall profile retrieval accuracy while using only a fraction of the mass of the current TRMM PR. NIS is designed to be a 35-GHz Geostationary Earth Orbiting (GEO) radar with the intent of providing hourly monitoring of the life cycle of hurricanes and tropical storms. It uses a 35-m, spherical, lightweight membrane antenna and Doppler processing to acquire 3-dimensional information on the intensity and vertical motion of hurricane rainfall. Technologies for NIS are synergistic with those for PR-2. During the last two years, several of the technology items associated with these notional instruments have also been prototyped. This paper will give an overview of these instrument design concepts and their associated technologies.

Citation Download Citation

Eastwood Im and Stephen L. Durden "Instrument concepts and technologies for future spaceborne atmospheric radars", Proc. SPIE 5659, Enabling Sensor and Platform Technologies for Spaceborne Remote Sensing, (11 January 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.579066

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