LITES and GROUP-C Mission Update: Ionosphere and Thermosphere Sensing from the ISS
Abstract
The Limb-imaging Ionospheric and Thermospheric Extreme-ultraviolet Spectrograph (LITES) and GPS Radio Occultation and Ultraviolet Photometer Co-located (GROUP-C) experiments are scheduled for launch to the International Space Station (ISS) in November 2016 as part of the Space Test Program Houston #5 payload (STP-H5). The two experiments provide technical development and risk-reduction for future space weather sensors suitable for ionospheric specification, space situational awareness, and data products for global ionosphere assimilative models. The combined instrument suite of these experiments offers a unique capability to study spatial and temporal variability of the thermosphere and ionosphere using multi-sensor and tomographic approaches. LITES is an imaging spectrograph that spans 60-140 nm and continuously acquires limb profiles of the ionosphere and thermosphere from 150-350 km altitude. GROUP-C includes a high-sensitivity far-ultraviolet photometer measuring horizontal ionospheric gradients and an advanced GPS receiver providing ionospheric electron density profiles and scintillation measurements. High-cadence limb images and nadir photometry from GROUP-C/LITES are combined to tomographically reconstruct high-fidelity two-dimensional volume emission rates within the ISS orbital plane. The GPS occultation receiver provides independent measurements to calibrate and validate advanced daytime ionospheric algorithms and nighttime tomography. The vantage from the ISS on the lower portion of the thermosphere and ionosphere will yield measurements complementary to the NASA GOLD and ICON missions which are expected to fly during the STP-H5 mission. We present a mission status update and available early orbit observations, and the opportunities for using these new data to help address questions regarding the complex and dynamic features of the low and middle latitude ionosphere-thermosphere system that have important implications for operational systems.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AGUFMSA13A2097S
- Keywords:
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- 3369 Thermospheric dynamics;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSESDE: 2427 Ionosphere/atmosphere interactions;
- IONOSPHEREDE: 2494 Instruments and techniques;
- IONOSPHERE