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Space Shuttle Columbia SOLSE Mission #2

The Shuttle Ozone Limb Sounding Experiment (SOLSE) payload is a Hitchhiker Junior (HH-J) payload managed by the GSFC Code 870 Shuttle Small Payloads Project and GSFC Code 916 Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Branch. The SOLSE experiment consists of the instrumentation, structural support, Command and Data Handling (C&DH), thermal control and power subsystems. The instrumentation subsystem consists of a visible and UV spectrograph with a CCD array detector, photodiode array and visible light cameras, calibration lamp, optics and baffling. The experiment is housed in a HH canister with canister extension ring and equipped with an HMDA. The payload also consists of a Hitchhiker-Junior (HH-J) interface, comprised of the HH Remote Interface Unit (HRIU) and associated Lower End Plate (LEP) electronics. The HRIU receives power from the HH avionics and communicates via the GAS intercom line with a Payload and General Support Computer (PGSC).

The principal mission of SOLSE-02 is to demonstrate a new technique to measure the vertical distribution of ozone in the atmosphere. Utilizing a limb viewing geometry, SOLSE shall demonstrate the feasibility of measuring limb scattered radiation to retrieve ozone with improved vertical resolution than a traditional nadir looking instrument can achieve. Second, SOLSE shall demonstrate the feasibility of using charge coupled device (CCD) technology to eliminate moving parts in simpler, cheaper, ozone mapping instruments. The SOLSE payload performs Limb and Earth viewing observations. During Limb observations, SOLSE focuses on the region between the altitudes of 5 km to 45 km above the horizon of the earth's surface through the daylit orbit (Sunrise through Sunset). SOLSE records images of the atmospheric limb from 530 nanometers to 850 nanometers when the visible filter is in place and from 270 to 425 nanometers when the UV filter is in place. The Limb Ozone Retrieval Experiment (LORE) contributes five discrete bands out to 760 nanometers. Numeric data from the payload displayed on the PGSC indicates if the proper altitude w ithin the limb is being imaged. Earth viewing observations enable SOLSE to correlate the data with other nadir viewing, ozone monitoring instruments. Calibration measurements of the spectrograph are performed prior to and following all SOLSE observations with the HMDA in the closed position.

MISSION DESCRIPTION

  • Launch: January 16, 2003 (postponed from original July 19, 2002)

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  • Launch from Pad 39A aboard shuttle Columbia (27th flight)

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  • 16 day mission

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  • 39 degree inclination (min. requirement for MEIDEX)

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  • 150 nautical miles altitude

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  • FREESTAR is in Bay 10

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  • 7.5 hours total minimum solar viewing (comprised of ten 45 minute observations -- will not be scheduled on consecutive orbits)

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    STS-107 INFORMATION

     

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    Responsible NASA Official : Dr. Richard McPeters, Principal Investigator for SOLSE
    Last revised: January 6, 2003