Session
Session 9: Upcoming Missions
Abstract
MeznSat is a 3U CubeSat that will carry a Short-Wave Infra-Red (SWIR) spectrometer as its primary payload, with the aim of deriving Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Methane (CH4) and concentrations in the atmosphere by making observations in the 1000–1650 nm wavelength region. The satellite is planned for launch in the end of 2019. The primary payload is Argus 2000 which is a miniature, low-cost, space-qualified SWIR spectrometer that operates in the SWIR bands and showcases flight heritage. The secondary payload will be an RGB camera with SXGA resolution that will allow post-processing to achieve the high geolocation accuracy required for the spectrometer. This setup of using a combination of visible and SWIR bands makes it a unique CubeSat mission that will generate a very interesting dataset to explore atmospheric correction algorithms which employ SWIR data to process visible channels. In addition, the collected data will be used to explore the performance of this particular sensing scheme, to estimate the concentration of nutrients in the coastal waters of the Arabian Gulf and investigate the feasibility of using the concentration of nutrients as a proxy to predict algal blooms.
MeznSat: A CubeSat for Greenhouse Gases Monitoring and Algal Blooms Prediction
MeznSat is a 3U CubeSat that will carry a Short-Wave Infra-Red (SWIR) spectrometer as its primary payload, with the aim of deriving Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Methane (CH4) and concentrations in the atmosphere by making observations in the 1000–1650 nm wavelength region. The satellite is planned for launch in the end of 2019. The primary payload is Argus 2000 which is a miniature, low-cost, space-qualified SWIR spectrometer that operates in the SWIR bands and showcases flight heritage. The secondary payload will be an RGB camera with SXGA resolution that will allow post-processing to achieve the high geolocation accuracy required for the spectrometer. This setup of using a combination of visible and SWIR bands makes it a unique CubeSat mission that will generate a very interesting dataset to explore atmospheric correction algorithms which employ SWIR data to process visible channels. In addition, the collected data will be used to explore the performance of this particular sensing scheme, to estimate the concentration of nutrients in the coastal waters of the Arabian Gulf and investigate the feasibility of using the concentration of nutrients as a proxy to predict algal blooms.
