Image sensors from e2v equip hyperspectral ozone instruments aboard NPP satellite
Chelmsford, England--Imaging sensors from e2v were launched into space on October 28, 2011 aboard NASA's new Earth observation satellite—the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP).The NPP satellite will measure global climate changes and key weather variables, and is the first mission designed to collect critical data to improve weather forecasts in the short-term and increase our understanding of long-term climate change. The custom-designed e2v imaging sensors use a proprietary back-illumination technology to optimize performance in the optical wavebands of interest. They have been subjected to a rigorous qualification process to ensure that they can withstand the requirements of this operational mission.
The satellite carries five instruments to capture data on the environment such as the ozone layer, land cover, atmospheric temperatures, and ice cover—parameters critical to global change science. The e2v imaging sensors equip the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. (Boulder, CO), an advanced suite of three hyperspectral instruments that measure the ozone by collecting light from the sun that has been reflected off of the atmosphere. Ozone molecules absorb particular frequencies of light and these absorption signatures are used to calculate the amount of ozone present over the entire globe. Ozone is an important molecule in the atmosphere because it partially blocks harmful ultraviolet light from the sun.
Jon Kemp, marketing manager for imaging at e2v said, "We are extremely pleased to have supplied sensors for the OMPS instrument on the NPP satellite. We are again enabling Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. to supply a high performance instrument for NASA's Earth observation mission, which will extend our knowledge of our world."
SOURCE: e2v; www.e2v.com/news/e2v-imaging-sensors-are-launched-into-space-onboard-nasa-s-new-earth-observation-satellite---npp/
About the Author
Gail Overton
Senior Editor (2004-2020)
Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.