Abstract
A submillimeter limb-emission sounder, that is to be aboard the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM, dubbed as KIBO) at the International Space Station, has been designed. This payload, Superconducting Submillimeter-wave Limb-emission Sounder (SMILES), is aimed at global mappings of stratospheric trace gases by means of the most sensitive submillimeter receiver ever operated in space. Such sensitivity is ascribed to a Superconductor-Insulator- Superconductor (SIS) mixer, which is operated at 4.5 K in a dedicated cryostat combined with a mechanical cooler. SMILES will observe ozone-depletion-related molecules such as ClO, Hcl, HO2, HNO3, BrO and O3 in the frequency bands at 624.32-626.32 GHz and 649.12-650.32 GHz. A scanning antenna will cover tangent altitudes from 10 to 60 km in every 53 seconds, while tracing the latitudes form 38 S to 65 N along its orbit. This global coverage makes SMILES a useful tool of observing the low- and mid- latitudinal areas as well as the Arctic peripheral region. The molecular emissions will be detected by two units of acousto-optic spectrometers (AOS), each of which has coverage of 1.2 GHz with a resolution of 1.8 MHz. This high-resolution spectroscopy will allow us to detect weak emission lines attributing to less-abundant species.© (2000) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Published Version
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