(expected release date: May 2024)
ESR Space is keenly following activity at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, where ESA’s EarthCARE spacecraft waits for its imminent launch in the weeks ahead!
The team has provided the Mechanism Assembly for the UK-led Broadband Radiometer (BBR) instrument. This is one of a suite of instruments that will measure the radiance of the upper atmosphere of the Earth to aid understanding of the interaction of clouds, aerosols and radiation and their combined effects on the Earth’s climate.
The mechanism assembly provided for BBR consists of two concentric mechanisms. The innermost Chopper Drum Mechanism provides a constantly rotating drum with three optical windows. Rotating at a constant speed, this provides the sensitive bolometric detectors with a fixed amount of light for each measurement (similar to a shutter on a film camera).
The second outermost mechanism is the Calibration Target Mechanism; this holds the calibration targets – a critical component to guarantee the precision measurements of the detectors. At regular intervals, these are slewed into position in the line of sight of the instrument detectors to provide a known radiometric source; this is used as a reference measurement for comparison with the atmospheric measurements.
ESR Space looks forward to the launch and is keen to keep up to date with the project.
For any further information, head over to the ESA website
For any other information about ESR Space head to ESR Space – ESR Technology , or email us at info@esrtechnology.com
