DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH SENSITIVITY SWIR AND MWIR CAMERAS

SHORTWAVE INFRARED (SWIR) AND MEDIUMWAVE INFRARED (MWIR) MEASUREMENTS ARE NEEDED TO CHARACTERIZE EMISSIONS PRODUCED IN SPACE BY SPACECRAFT SURFACES, ENGINE EXHAUST AND OTHER SPACECRAFT CONTAMINANTS AS WELL AS THE SPATIAL VARIABILITY OF ATMOSPHERIC IR EMISSIONS. THE PROPOSED STUDY IS TO COMPLETE THE DESIGN OF AN IR CAMERA SUITABLE FOR GROUND BASED OBSERVATIONS OF ATMOSPHERIC EMISSIONS. IT IS EXPECTED THAT THIS CAMERA DESIGN WILL ALSO BE USEFUL IN THE DESIGN OF A SPACE QUALIFIED CAMERA FOR MEASURING IR OPTICAL EMISSIONS IN SPACE. IN PHASE II AN OPERATIONAL GROUND BASED IR CAMERA SYSTEM WOULD BE PRODUCED AND A PROTOTYPE OF THE FLIGHT INSTRUMENT WOULD BE DESIGNED AND BUILT.