The Split-field Etalon Doppler Imager (SEDI) - A Compact Thermosphere Wind Profiler

The dynamics of the Earth's thermosphere remains an important target for scientific exploration. The primary energy input is solar EUV but during solar events additional energy is deposited into the high-latitude thermosphere in the form of Joule heating and particle precipitation, driving global changes in thermosphere temperature profiles and circulation. Thermosphere wind and temperature profiles are important factors for understanding the dynamic response of the earth system to solar storms, for building and maintaining global weather and climate models, and for making operational space weather predictions. We report progress in miniaturized sensor technology for orbital monitoring of wind and neutral temperature profiles in the upper thermosphere, 200 - 350 km. These profiles are sensed using the atomic oxygen airglow at 630.0 nm. The split-field etalon Doppler imager (SEDI) focuses forward and aft scenes of the earth limb onto a single EMCCD focal plane through a single Fabry-Perot etalon (Figure 1). The size of the SEDI optical system is 14 x 18 x 7 cm. The instrument has no moving parts and is easily packaged in a 6U CubeSat. Strips of the dual interferogram are analyzed with respect to fringe width and radial phase to yield profiles of the neutral temperature and Doppler shift. Instrument calibration is maintained on-orbit using the 630.4 nm reference line from a neon glow lamp. The prediction of Doppler sensitivity vs. tangent height against the limb is plotted in Figure 2 for a profiling resolution of 5 km. Forward-view Doppler profiles are combined with aft-view profiles collected approximately 5 minutes later to create localized 2D wind profiles. A constellation of SEDI CubeSats could provide global monitoring of the thermosphere wind field and its dynamics.; Figure 1. Layout of the SEDI instrument. ; Figure 2. Doppler sensitivity of the SEDI instrument.