This chapter describes the design, testing and on‐orbit performance of the Measurements Of Pollution In The Troposphere (MOPITT) payload, which was launched onboard NASA's Terra satellite in December of 1999. As of August 2014 the MOPITT payload is still operating providing unique and widely published data on atmospheric carbon monoxide gas concentrations. The MOPITT instrument was developed in Canada under funding from the Canadian Space Agency by an industrial team led by COM DEV in Cambridge Ontario. MOPITT was a novel design that utilized gas correlation spectroscopy at high pressures for the first time on a satellite based instrument. The MOPITT instrument included infrared optics, cryogenically cooled detectors, active cryogenic coolers, radiation hardened electronics and more than 20 precision mechanisms.
The payload design was developed to be reconfigurable on‐orbit to allow for contingencies, and to operate with a minimal level of interaction from ground control operators. Both of these features have proven to be key elements to the enormous success of the mission.
The data from the MOPITT instrument has been the basis of over 300 scientific papers on atmospheric modelling, pollution transport and long term trends in carbon monoxide levels.
Payload aboard Terra Satellite for Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere
Optical Payloads for Space Missions ; 639-652
2015-12-10
14 pages
Aufsatz/Kapitel (Buch)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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