Infrared imaging and sounding from a geostationary body stabilized spacecraft

The design and capabilities of the GOES Imager and Sounder are described. The GOES Imager is a multispectral imaging radiometer which has improved sensitivity, greater scan flexibility, greater pointing accuracy, two-point calibration, and signal quantization. The Imager sensor module is 42.6 inches long, 18 inches wide, and 28 inches high, and has five spectral channels, four IR and one visible. The detectors, electronics, optical system, and scan subsystem of the Imager are examined, and diagrams of the components are presented. The Sounder is a nineteen-channel discrete-filter radiometer with high sensitivity, a small instantaneous geometric field of view, multiple simultaneous samples and a high sampling rate, full aperture blackbody calibration, thermal control space reference, and 13-bit quantization. The characteristics of the detectors and filters, which use longwave, midwave, shortwave, and visible spectral bands, and the operation of the Sounder are discussed. Diagrams of the Sounder components and data output are provided.