Rocket experiments spectrometers

This paper will concentrate on the unique requirements of aeronomic spectroscopy and on the application of image devices to these measurements. Spectrometer 1, Table I, was developed for rocket experiments intended to measure the NIR absorption spectra of 1 0 and 02 molecules in the middle atmosphere. A photodiode array was used as the spectrometric sensor. With this spectrometer we were able to measure the NIR solar radiation spectrum with an altitude resolution better than 2 km. Spectrometer 2, Table I, was basically of the same design as spectrometer 1, except that an image intensifier was optically coupled to the diode array to permit low light-level measurements. The resolution of this spectrometer was adequate for measurements of rotational profiles of the A-band absorption spectra of 02 molecules. We were able to measure the rotational temperature of oxygen molecules, in the stratosphere and the lower mesosphere with an accuracy of + 1.5°, and a spatial resolution better than 2 km. These experiments provided the basis for study of the dynamic processes of atmospheric molecules. Spectrometer 3,... 

Figure 4 is an example of spectra measured with the spectrometer 1 system in the S-310-8 rocket experiment. The A-band absorption spectra of oxygen molecules, which originate from the 1Eg(v,=0)- -3Zg(v"=0) and i g(v = l)- -3Zg(v"=0) transitions (4), have been observed at 763 and 692 nm, respectively. The rotational bands (3,0,1) and (2,1,1) of water vapors have also been observed at 720 and 820 nm, respectively (5). 

The solar spectrum has been the subject of numerous rocket experiments undertaken since the 1940s. The first spectrum measured above the ozone layer by a V-2 rocket dates from October 1946 (Baum et al, 1946), and not until the 1950s was a solar spectrum observed from an altitude of 100 km (Johnson et al, 1952). Today the solar irradiance is routinely observed by spectrometers on board balloons, aircraft, or spacecraft. During the 1990s, for example, the solar UY flux was measured almost continuously between 120 and 400 nm by the Solar Ultraviolet Spectral Irradiance Monitor (SUSIM) and the Solar/Stellar Irradiance Comparison Experiment (SOLSTICE), both on board the... 

List of the spectrometers developed by the authors for rocket, balloon, and satellite experiments. 

Stern s research has taken him to the South Pole, to a number of major astronomical observatories, and to the upper atmosphere aboard high-performance military aircraft. His areas of interest include spacecraft rendezvous theory, terrestrial polar mesospheric clouds, galactic astrophysics, and tenuous satellite atmospheres. He has been principal investigator for a number of space projects, including the European Space Agency s Rosetta/ ALICE Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer Experiment (a mission to study Comet 46P/Wirtanen), two Space Shuttle projects, three airborne research projects, and two research rocket projects. In 1995, Stern was selected to be a Space Shuttle Mission Specialist finalist for a forthcoming flight. 

Fehsenfeld and Ferguson and Good et independently suggested the type of mechanism that must be involved in the production of the proton hydrates. This mechanism and the rate constants measured by Good et al. were given in Table III (Section 4). The reactions and rate constants of Table III were used by Ferguson and Fehsenfeld for calculation of the rates and concentrations of proton hydrates in the ionosphere. With reasonable assumptions these authors were able to reproduce semiquantitatively the cluster concentration-altitude profiles observed with the rocket-borne mass spectrometers. The reaction scheme proposed by Ferguson does not explain the fate of the NO" ion. At mid-latitudes NO" ions are believed to be produced at a faster rate than 02", yet is observed only as a minor ion. In laboratory experiments, NO is converted to H (H20)3 by the reaction sequence... 

The k and the product ion distributions for such reactions are readily determined using the SIFT. Rocket-borne mass spectrometers have shown that NO+ ions are a major species in the upper TA, even though neutral NO does not exist in measurable concentrations. Flowing afterglow and SIFT experiments have shown that these ions result primarily from the ion-molecule reaction ... 

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