Tropomi on track

The Sentinel 5 precursor (S5p) mission as a small mission features TROPOMI (Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument) as the single payload on the selected platform. S5p will measure the composition of the Earth's atmosphere and is part of GMES, a joint initiative of the European Community and of the European Space Agency. TROPOMI builds on the SCLAMACHY (on ENV1SAT) and OMI (on EOS-AURA) heritage and it will prepare for the future Sentinel 5 mission. S5p will fill the data gap between the moment OMI and SCIAMACHY are not functional anymore and the Sentinel 5 spacecraft is not yet operational: ENVISAT carrying SCIAMACHY ceased functioning in 2012, OMI's end-of-life is expected in 2015 and Sentinel 5 will be launched in 2020. The TROPOMI data products available from 2015 will be better than TROPOMI's predecessor's data products in terms of improved spatial resolution and improved sensitivity. TROPOMI passed the instrument Preliminary Design Review in 2011.The instrument Critical Design Review is planned for end of 2012, early 2013. Launch is planned for 2015. The lower level PDR's have been successfully completed. Instrument requirements have been re-assessed and interfaces with Astrium's AS250 platform have been defined in detail. Breadboard tests for critical and new items such as the telescope free-form optics and immersed gratings provide further assurance that the instruments performance requirements will be met. The major Contract with the Netherlands Space Office (NSO) was signed end-of-2011; the parallel contract with ESA for the ESA funded instrument subsystems had been agreed before. All subcontracts have been negotiated and agreed, notably the subcontract with TNO who provides the optical design of the instrument (telescope and UVN spectrometers) and the subcontract with SSTL who provides the SWIR spectrometer, detector and electronics. The TNO designers have been fully integrated in the project prime team for maximum efficiency. The NSO/ESA Joint Programme Team is in place and provides a single Customer interface to Dutch Space as TROPOMI Prime Contractor, despite the two distinct contractual arrangements. The double agency set-up with their different funding principles and budget limitations has resulted in a unique programmatic arrangement which is proving its efficacy. Copyright © (2012) by the International Astronautical Federation.