Daniel Lamarre

MARSCHALS: development of an airborne millimeter-wave limb sounder

MARSCHALS (Millimeter-wave Airborne Receivers for Spectroscopic CHaracterization in Atmospheric Limb Sounding) is being developed with funding from the European Space Agency as a simulator of MASTER (Millimeter-wave Acquisitions for Stratosphere Troposphere Exchange Research), a limb sounding instrument in a proposed future ESA Earth Explorer Core Mission. The principal and most innovative objective of MARSCHALS is to simulate MASTERs capability for sounding O3, H2O and CO at high vertical resolution in the upper troposphere (UT) using millimeter wave receivers at 300, 325, and 345 GHz. Spectra are recorded in these bands with 200 MHz resolution. As such, MARSCHALs is the first limb-sounder to be explicitly designed and built for the purpose of sounding the composition of the UT, in addition to the Lower Stratosphere (LS) where HNO3, N2O and additional trace gases will also be measured. A particular attribute of millimeter-wave measurements is their comparative insensitivity to ice clouds. However, to assess the impact on the measurements of cirrus in the UT, MARSCHALs has a near-IR digital video camera aligned in azimuth with the 235 mm limb-scanning antenna. In addition to UT and LS aircraft measurements, MARSCHALs is capable of making mid-stratospheric measurements from a balloon platform when fitted with a 400 mm antenna. Provision has been made to add further receiver channels and a high resolution spectrometer.

A 5-frequency millimeter wave antenna for a spaceborne limb sounding instrument

Several spaceborne Earth observation missions such as the European Space Agencys (ESA) atmospheric chemistry instruments Millimeter wave Acquisitions for Stratosphere/Troposphere Exchange Research (MASTER), Soprano or Piramhyd require the development of complex millimeter and submillimeter wave range spectroradiometers. These instruments place stringent requirements on antenna electrical performance due to the low-noise signal levels and the high-vertical resolution involved. This paper focuses on the electromagnetic (EM) design and analysis of a 2.2-m diameter Cassegrain antenna operating in 5-frequency bands between 200 and 500 GHz. The primary feed network is an essential part. It has to provide not only the low-loss frequency separation of the bands but also the antenna illumination with nearly perfect amplitude and phase patterns for high-beam efficiency. Quasi-optical techniques are extensively used for the overall antenna design and focal plane demultiplexer breadboarding and testing.

Meteosat Third Generation: The Infrared Sounder Instrument

ESA & Eumetsat have given the go-ahead for the Meteosat Third Generation programme. A design overview and the development status of the InfraRed Sounder, an imaging Fourier Transform spectrometer aboard MTG-S, will be presented.