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SCIAMACHY - Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Cartography

The Sciamachy instruments contained an imaging spectrometer to measure the trace gases in both the Stratosphere and Troposphere.

Name: Sciamachy
Mission: Envisat
Application: Atmospheric Cartography
Life: Launched in 2002 – mission
ended in 2012

Instrument Description

OIP was involved as a subcontractor  for Fokker in the large Sciamachy project and was in charge of the electro-optical modules for
polarisation measurements and observations of the Sun (“Sun Follower”) during the flight.  Sciamachy was flown on the ENVISAT satellite.

Mission

Envisat was launched as an Earth Observation satellite. Its objective was to service the continuity of European Remote Sensing satellite missions, providing additional observational parameters to improve environmental studies. Operated by the ESA, it was the world’s largest civilian Earth observation satellite. Envisat carried an array of nine Earth-observation instruments that gathered information about the Earth (land, water, ice and atmosphere) using a variety of measurement principles.

In working towards the global and regional objectives of the mission, numerous scientific disciplines currently use the data acquired from the different sensors on the satellite to study such things as atmospheric chemistry, ozone depletion, biological oceanography, ocean temperature and colour, wind waves, hydrology (humidity, floods), agriculture and arboriculture, natural hazards, monitoring of maritime traffic, atmospheric dispersion modelling (pollution), cartography and study of snow and ice.

OIP’s Participation

OIP, as a subcontractor to ESA, was involved in the C/D phase of the SCIAMACHY project and was in charge of the opto-electronic modules inside the Optical Assembly for polarization measurements and calibration during flight.

Status

The Envisat satellite was launched on 1 March 2002 aboard an Ariane 5 from the Guyana Space Centre in Kourou, French-Guiana, into a Sun Synchronous polar orbit at an altitude of 790 km.  After losing contact with the satellite on 8 April 2012, ESA formally announced the end of Envisat’s mission on 9 May 2012.

The SCIAMACHY instrument, onboard Envisat, has been producing flawlessly scientific data during its operational life time.

Partners

SCIAMACHY was built by Netherlands and Germany at TNO/TPD, SRON and Dutch Space.

OIP, as a subcontractor to ESA, was involved in the C/D phase of the SCIAMACHY project and was in charge of the opto-electronic modules inside the Optical Assembly for polarization measurements and calibration during flight.

The project is funded by ESA/PRODEX.

 

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