Submillimeter-wave properties of thermospheric rocket plumes
Abstract
The problem of detecting rocket plumes at thermospheric altitudes with satellite-borne submillimeter-wave radiometers is examined theoretically. To estimate the sizes of plume signatures contrasted against a 250-K earth background or in self-emission against the cold sky, a computer program has been developed to predict plume brightness temperatures and optical depths of rotational lines of plume molecular constituents (e.g., H2O) as a function of distance from the nozzle. The methods employed in the computations are described in general terms, and examples are presented to indicate that detectable H2O signatures extending to several thousand nozzle diameters should exist at plume altitudes above 250 km.
- Publication:
-
International Journal of Infrared and Millimeter Waves
- Pub Date:
- December 1980
- DOI:
- 10.1007/BF01013468
- Bibcode:
- 1980IJIMW...1..561L
- Keywords:
-
- rocket plume detection;
- submillimeter-wave radiometry;
- water vapor rotational lines