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The satellite is in operation since 2003, exceeding its initially planned lifetime of 2 years by more than a factor of 5. Given its success, its usefulness and the uniqueness of the data it provides, the Canadian Space Agency has founded the development of technologies enabling the second generation of ACE-FTS instruments through the High Vertical Resolution Measurement (HVRM) project but is still waiting for the funding for a mission. This project addresses three major improvements over the ACE-FTS. The first one aims at improving the vertical instantaneous field-of-view (iFoV) from 4.0 km to 1.5 km without affecting the SNR and temporal precision. The second aims at providing precise knowledge on the tangent height of the limb observation from an external method instead of that used in SCISAT-1 where the altitude is typically inferred from the monotonic CO2 concentration seen in the spectra. The last item pertains to reaching lower altitude down to 5 km for the retrieved gas species, an altitude at which the spectra are very crowded in terms of absorption. These objectives are attained through a series of modification in the optical train such as the inclusion of a field converter and a series of dedicated real-time and post-acquisition algorithms processing the Sun images as it hides behind the Earth. This paper presents the concepts, the prototypes that were made, their tests and the results obtained in this Technology Readiness Level (TRL) improvement project. |
Sun
Mirrors
Clouds
Sensors
Astronomical imaging
Finite element methods
Image filtering
