Multispectral Observations of Rocket Clouds

Phase I will investigate methods for characterizing a rocket exhaust cloud. The objective is to identify a system for obtaining measurements on rocket exhaust clouds, which are needed to baseline current and future hot spill models that predict the environmental behavior, transport, and ultimate fate of toxic rocket chemicals in the air produced by Air Force rocket launches. Phase I will consist of four tasks: a. Evaluate the best methods to acquire observational data, including multi-spectral passive sensors such as lidar or millimeter wave radar. Existing data sets will be examined to determine usefulness in defining the viability of various sensors. b. Evaluate existing software and hardware systems for processing of rocket cloud imagery to determine applicability to the rocket plume measurement problem. c. Examine the existing software for 3-D plume reconstruction. d. Determine the sources and magnitude of inherent errors and devise ways to minimize them.