Design and development of the CubeSat Infrared Atmospheric Sounder (CIRAS)

Pagano, Thomas S.; Abesamis, Carlo; Andrade, Andres; Aumann, Hartmut H.; Gunapala, Sarath D.; Heneghan, Cate; Jarnot, R. F.; Johnson, Dean; Lamborn, Andy; Maruyama, Yuki; Rafol, Sir B.; Raouf, Nasrat; Rider, David M.; Ting, David Z.; Wilson, Dan; Yee, Karl; Cole, Jerold; Good, Bill; Kampe, Thomas U.; Soto, Juancarlos; Adams, Arn; Buckley, M. A.; Graham, Richard; Nicol, Fred; Vengel, Tony

doi:10.1117/12.2272839

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…CRTM has been widely used in simulating synthetic observations (Boukabara et al 2018). The CRTM team (Tong Zhu and Sid Boukabara, personal communication, 2017) have developed and delivered the optical depth in pressure space coefficients required to use CRTM for both CIRAS and MicroMAS-2 based on the spectral response function (SRF) provided by JPL (Pagano et al 2017) and MIT/LL (Blackwell et al 2018). CRTM does not include nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) effects in radiance simulation around the 4.3 μm CO 2 absorption band, which may contribute brightness temperature (T b ) error of about 1-1.5 K for those CIRAS channels.…”

Section: Synthetic Observation Simulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, from its polar sun-synchronous orbit, the 6U CubeSat Infrared Atmospheric Sounder (CIRAS), an AIRSlike hyperspectral IR sounder, will measure the upwelling IR radiation of the Earth and its atmosphere in 625 shortwave IR (SWIR) spectral channels (1949-2451 cm −1 , or 4.08--5.13 μm, including the 4.3 μm CO 2 absorption band) (Pagano et al 2017). CIRAS has a spectral resolution of 1.2-2.0 cm −1 and a Noise Equivalent differential Temperature (NEdT) of 0.1-0.4 K (increasing with frequency) at 250 K. The CIRAS horizontal resolution of 13.5 km covers a swath 1100 km wide.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The alternative of CubeSat-based advanced infrared and microwave sounders for high impact weather forecasting

Schmit

et al. 2019

Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters

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The advanced infrared (IR) and microwave (MW) sounding systems have been providing atmospheric sounding information critical for nowcasting and improving weather forecasts through data assimilation in numerical weather prediction. In recent years, advanced IR and MW sounder systems are being proposed to be onboard CubeSats that are much more cost efficient than traditional satellite systems. An impact study using a regional Observing System Simulation Experiment on a local severe storm (LSS) was carried out to evaluate the alternative of using advanced MW and IR sounders for high-impact weather forecasting in mitigating the potential data gap of the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) and the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) on the Suomi-NPP (SNPP) or Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). It was found that either MicroMAS-2 or the CubeSat Infrared Atmospheric Sounder (CIRAS) on a single CubeSat was able to provide a positive impact on the LSS forecast, and more CubeSats with increased data coverage yielded larger positive impacts. MicroMAS-2 has the potential to mitigate the loss of ATMS, and CIRAS the loss of CrIS, on SNPP or JPSS, especially when multiple CubeSats are launched. There are several approximations and limitations to the present study, but these represent efficiencies appropriate to the principal goal of the studygauging the relative values of these sensors.

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Section: Synthetic Observation Simulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The alternative of CubeSat-based advanced infrared and microwave sounders for high impact weather forecasting

Schmit

et al. 2019

Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters

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“…The CIRAS is currently designed for a 6U or 12U CubeSat developed by Blue Canyon Technologies, but can be easily accommodated by a variety of small spacecraft. A description of the CIRAS instrument concept, enabling technologies, and expected performance has been provided in prior works 5,6 .…”

Section: Ciras Instrumentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal vacuum performance testing of the CubeSat Infrared Atmospheric Sounder (CIRAS)

Pagano,

Cho,

Crawford

et al. 2023

CubeSats, SmallSats, and Hosted Payloads for Remote Sensing VII

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Hyperspectral infrared sounders measure the profiles of temperature and water vapor in the atmosphere and the concentration of trace gas species. Instruments such as NASA Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) 1 on the Aqua spacecraft have proven their value for weather and climate research, atmospheric composition research, and high impact to the operational forecast at NWP centers worldwide. Reducing the size, weight and power of these instruments is key to enabling more rapid revisit when deployed in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), enabling new measurements such as 3D Atmospheric Motion Vector (AMV) winds, and reducing the cost of these instrument for future deployment in LEO, Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) and aircraft platforms. NASA and NOAA have sponsored technology maturation at JPL of the CubeSat Infrared Atmospheric Sounder (CIRAS) to demonstrate the use of wide field grating spectrometer optics and large format FPA technologies included in CIRAS for infrared sounding. These include a 2D format High Operating Temperature-Barrier Infrared Detector (HOT-BIRD), a silicon Immersion Grating, and Black Silicon for the CIRAS entrance slit and blackbody. Thermal Vacuum (TVac) performance testing of CIRAS has been completed achieving TRL 5 for a full scale brassboard of the instrument. Testing included spatial, spectral, and radiometric response of the instrument including measurements of the transmission in a gas cell. Results show excellent performance from the system with the exception of a high background flux from the Integrated Dewar Cryocooler Assembly (IDCA). The IDCA is not planned for flight use and projections of the performance in the flight configuration are discussed. Through this testing the instrument has reached TRL 5. Recently, the NASA Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) awarded JPL a contract to fly the CIRAS in an aircraft, called the Pyro-atmosphere Infrared Sounder (PIRS), to measure the convective environment around wildfires.

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“…On one hand, technological advances result in sensor designs with higher spatial, temporal, and spectral resolution. In addition, miniaturization permits deployment on less expensive SmallSat and CubeSat platforms [e.g., CIRAS described by Pagano et al (2017) and MicroMAS-2 described by Blackwell et al (2019)]. As a result, we are now seeing the emergence of commercial space-based data from flotillas of small satellites being marketed by multiple industry players.…”

Section: Satellite Remote Sensing and Nwpmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leveraging Modern Artificial Intelligence for Remote Sensing and NWP: Benefits and Challenges

Boukabara

Krasnopolsky

Stewart

et al. 2019

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

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Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques have had significant recent successes in multiple fields. These fields and the fields of satellite remote sensing and NWP share the same fundamental underlying needs, including signal and image processing, quality control mechanisms, pattern recognition, data fusion, forward and inverse problems, and prediction. Thus, modern AI in general and machine learning (ML) in particular can be positively disruptive and transformational change agents in the fields of satellite remote sensing and NWP by augmenting, and in some cases replacing, elements of the traditional remote sensing, assimilation, and modeling tools. And change is needed to meet the increasing challenges of Big Data, advanced models and applications, and user demands. Future developments, for example, SmallSats and the Internet of Things, will continue the explosion of new environmental data. ML models are highly efficient and in some cases more accurate because of their flexibility to accommodate nonlinearity and/or non-Gaussianity. With that efficiency, ML can help to address the demands put on environmental products for higher accuracy, for higher resolution—spatial, temporal, and vertical, for enhanced conventional medium-range forecasts, for outlooks and predictions on subseasonal to seasonal time scales, and for improvements in the process of issuing advisories and warnings. Using examples from satellite remote sensing and NWP, it is illustrated how ML can accelerate the pace of improvement in environmental data exploitation and weather prediction—first, by complementing existing systems, and second, where appropriate, as an alternative to some components of the NWP processing chain from observations to forecasts.

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Design and development of the CubeSat Infrared Atmospheric Sounder (CIRAS)

Cited by 9 publications

References 6 publications

The alternative of CubeSat-based advanced infrared and microwave sounders for high impact weather forecasting

The alternative of CubeSat-based advanced infrared and microwave sounders for high impact weather forecasting

Thermal vacuum performance testing of the CubeSat Infrared Atmospheric Sounder (CIRAS)

Leveraging Modern Artificial Intelligence for Remote Sensing and NWP: Benefits and Challenges

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