Sensor Development Thermospheric Neutral Wind Measurements

Abstract

This report summarizes activities related to the development of a sensor to measure the in-situ neutral wind from a satellite in low-earth orbit. This development work sponsored by the Air Force allowed a credible proposal for flight instrumentation to be submitted to NASA. That proposal was subsequently funded and paved the way for a collaborative investigation of ion- neutral coupling of scientific and technical value to both NASA and the Air Force. The project started a conceptual design for neutral wind sensors, the development of computer models of the instrument performance, evaluation of the instrument optics, design and construction of laboratory prototypes and final construction of flight hardware. We briefly review the activities here making reference to previously released reports that provide more detail.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 15, 2003
Accession Number
ADA423268

Entities

People

  • Roderick A. Heelis

Organizations

  • University of Texas at Dallas

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Autonomy
  • Sensors
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Detectors
  • Earth Orbits
  • Instrumentation
  • Ions
  • Low Earth Orbits
  • Measurement
  • Military Research
  • Software Development
  • Space Sciences
  • Spacecraft
  • Spacecraft Orbits
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Vehicles
  • Wind Velocity

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Space Exploration and Orbital Mechanics.
  • Technical Research and Report Writing.

Technology Areas

  • Space