The enhanced MODIS airborne simulator hyperspectral imager

The EMAS-HS or Enhanced MODIS Airborne Simulator is an upgrade to the solar reflected and thermal infrared channels of NASA's MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS). In the solar reflected bands, the MAS scanner functionality will be augmented with the addition of this separate pushbroom hyperspectral instrument. As well as increasing the spectral resolution of MAS beyond 10 nm, this spectrometer is designed to maintain a stable calibration that can be transferred to the existing MAS sensor. The design emphasizes environmental control and on-board radiometric stability monitoring. The system is designed for high-altitude missions on the ER-2 and the Global Hawk platforms. System trades optimize performance in MODIS spectral bands that support land, cloud, aerosol, and atmospheric water studies. The primary science mission driving the development is high altitude cloud imaging, with secondary missions possible for ocean color. The sensor uses two Offner spectrometers to cover the 380-2400 nm spectral range. It features an all-reflective telescope with a 50° full field-of-view. A dichroic cold mirror will split the image from the telescope, with longer radiation transmitted to the SWIR spectrometer. The VNIR spectrometer uses a TE-cooled Si CCD detector that samples the spectrum at 2.5 nm intervals, while the SWIR spectrometer uses a Stirling-cooled hybrid HgCdTe detector to sample the spectrum at 10 nm per band. Both spectrometers will feature 1.05 mRad instantaneous fields-of-view registered to the MAS scanner IFOV's.