Title
The Spectropolarimeter for Planetary Exploration - SPEX
Author
Laan, E.
Stam, D.
Snik, F.
Karalidi, T.
Keller, C.
ter Horst, R.
Navarro, R.
Oomen, G.
de Vries, J.
Hoogeveen, R.
TNO Industrie en Techniek
Contributor
Costeraste, J. (editor)
Armandillo, E. (editor)
Karafolas, N. (editor)
Publication year
2017
Abstract
SPEX (Spectropolarimeter for Planetary EXploration) is an innovative, compact remotesensing instrument for measuring and characterizing aerosols in the atmosphere. The shoebox size instrument is capable of accurate full linear spectropolarimetry without moving parts or liquid crystals. High precision polarimetry is performed through encoding the degree and angle of linear polarization of the incoming light in a sinusoidal modulation of the spectrum. Measuring this intensity spectrum thus provides the spectral dependence of the degree and angle of linear polarization. Polarimetry has proven to be an excellent tool to study microphysical properties of atmospheric particles. Such information is essential to better understand the weather and climate of a planet. Although SPEX can be used to study any planetary atmosphere, including the Earth's, the current design of SPEX is tailored to study Martian dust and clouds from an orbiting platform. SPEX’ 9 entrance pupils can simultaneously measure intensity spectra from 0.4 to 0.8 microns, in different directions along the flight direction (including two limb viewing directions). This way, the scattering phase functions of dust and cloud particles within a ground pixel are sampled while flying over it. SPEX can provide synergy with instruments on rovers and landers, as it provides an overview of spatial and temporal variations of the Martian atmosphere.
Subject
Space & Scientific Instrumentation
Industrial Innovation
Earth atmosphere
Ellipsometry
Interplanetary spacecraft
Liquid crystals
Polarimeters
Polarization
Atmospheric particles
Microphysical property
Planetary atmosphere
Planetary exploration
Scattering phase function
Sinusoidal modulation
Spatial and temporal variation
Spectral dependences
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http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:54ccb946-331a-4e3a-954b-15bdd2af9410
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2308240
TNO identifier
782887
Publisher
SPIE
ISBN
9781510616219
ISSN
0277-786X
Source
International Conference on Space Optics, ICSO 2008, 14-17 October 2008, Toulouse, France, 10566
Series
Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Document type
conference paper