Report On A Rocket-Borne, Telescoped Fourier Transform Spectrometer Operating At 100K Kelvin

J P Dybwad; R J Huppi; R E McKenna; D P Saletnik; B J Thomas; Vaughn Griffiths

doi:10.1117/12.940692

6 October 1987 Report On A Rocket-Borne, Telescoped Fourier Transform Spectrometer Operating At 100K Kelvin

J P Dybwad, R J Huppi, R E McKenna, D P Saletnik, B J Thomas, Vaughn Griffiths

Proceedings Volume 0787, Optical Techniques for Sensing and Measurement in Hostile Environments; (1987) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.940692
Event: 1987 Technical Symposium Southeast on Optics, Electro-Optics, and Sensors, 1987, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

With a successful rocket-borne flight and instrument recovery, Utah State University and its contractors have demonstrated that its FT-IR interferometers are ideally suited for atmospheric research even under severe environmental conditions and at cryogenically cooled operational temperatures as low as 100K. In this presentation, issues of performance and calibration which are specific to FT-IR/detector interaction are highlighted. In April of 1986 a liquid helium cooled infrared Fourier transform spectrometer (FT-IR) was launched on a Talos/Castor rocket from the University of Alaska's Poker Flat Research Range. Figure 1 shows the rocket on its launcher during a test of the payload's pop-open clean shell. The sensor was designed, constructed and operated by personnel from Utah State's Stewart Radiance Laboratory. The telescoped earth-limb viewing spectrometer observed atmospheric night airglow backgrounds and an aurora 1,000 km downrange and returned infrared spectra from 2.5 to 22 um with spectral resolutions of 1 wavenumber and of 10 wavenumbers. More than 200 interferometric scans were taken during the eight minutes of flight and the outputs of five Si (As) detectors in the imaging focal plane were telemetered to the ground station. The instrument functioned flawlessly. Alignment and calibration were not affected by the rocket launch and only minor damage was found after parachute recovery even though the descent ended with an impact of greater than 30g. Currently the instrument is being recalibrated . The launch of the sensor extends a long line of successful ground based, aircraft borne, balloon-borne and rocket-borne FT-IR measurements made by Utah State University in cooperation with the Air Force Geophysics Laboratories. In this presentation, the complex flight hardware will be described briefly. Then, some specific issues relating to the relatively simple cyogenic imaging FT-IR sensor will be examined.

Citation Download Citation

J P Dybwad, R J Huppi, R E McKenna, D P Saletnik, B J Thomas, and Vaughn Griffiths "Report On A Rocket-Borne, Telescoped Fourier Transform Spectrometer Operating At 100K Kelvin", Proc. SPIE 0787, Optical Techniques for Sensing and Measurement in Hostile Environments, (6 October 1987); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.940692

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