Abstract
Climate change and global warming are attributed to the increased levels of greenhouse Gases in the atmosphere. Miniature low-cost, lightweight instruments on-board low-cost nanosatellite platforms such as CubeSats could be used to provide precise measurements of greenhouse gases levels. CubeSats, which usually have a narrow field of view, cost a fraction of what more expensive satellites with wide swaths cost. MeznSat is a 3U CubeSat that will carry a shortwave infrared (SWIR) micro-spectrometer as its primary payload, with the aim of deriving greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere by making observations in the 1000–1650 nm wavelength region. The satellite, which is planned for launch in March 2020, is the result of a collaborative project between Khalifa University of Science and Technology (KUST) and the American University of Ras Al-Khaimah (AURAK) with a fund from the United Arab Emirates Space Agency (UAE-SA). The primary payload, Argus 2000, is a miniature, low-cost, space-qualified spectrometer that operates in the shortwave infrared (SWIR) bands. Argus 2000 is a ruggedized unit with a mass of less than 230 g and power consumption of less than 1 W. Also, the Argus 2000 has 0.15 degrees viewing angle and 15 mm fore-optics. The secondary payload will consist of a high definition (HD) camera that will allow post-processing to achieve the high geolocation accuracy required for the SWIR spectrometer data. The RGB combination of visible and SWIR bands setup makes MeznSat a unique CubeSat mission that will generate an interesting dataset to explore atmospheric correction algorithms, which employ SWIR data to process visible channels. This paper describes the mission feasibility, mission analysis, design, and status of MeznSat.
Highlights
Increasing concentrations of Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere produced by human activities is the most significant driver of climate change [1]
We provided an overview of the initial MeznSat design [1]
Primary science: To monitor methane and carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere using a Tentative science: To study the feasibility of combining shortwave infrared (SWIR) sensing with RGB images to estimate the concentration of nutrients in the coastal waters to predict the possibility of algal blooms
Summary
Increasing concentrations of Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere produced by human activities is the most significant driver of climate change [1]. The current research aims to explore and study the performance of the sensing in the shortwave infrared (SWIR) region (1000–1650 nm) in combination with the RGB camera to predict possible algal boom occurrences through estimation of the concentration of nutrients in the coastal waters of the Arabian Gulf [1]. Apart from this, the SWIR bands have been used for accurate atmospheric correction of visible and very near-infrared bands of sensors such as MODIS [6] This experiment can validate those measurements apart from providing complementary information to the information obtained from the camera on-board the proposed CubeSat and UAE satellites such as DubaiSat-1 [7], DubaiSat-2 [8], and KhalifaSat [9] images. The launch of MeznSat is expected to take place in March 2020 into sun-synchronous orbit with an altitude of 550 Km. Section 2 provides details on the mission concept, including orbital analysis, payloads used, and system-level design.
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