HR: 1340h
AN: AE23A-0912    [Abstracts]
TI: Development of the sprite and lightning imaging system onboard the SPRITE-SAT
AU: * Sato, M
EM: msato@pat.geophys.tohoku.ac.jp
AF: Dept. of Geophysics, Tohoku Univ., Aramaki, Aoba, Sendai, 980-8578, Japan
AU: Takahashi, Y
EM: yukihiro@pat.geophys.tohoku.ac.jp
AF: Dept. of Geophysics, Tohoku Univ., Aramaki, Aoba, Sendai, 980-8578, Japan
AU: Sakanoi, T
EM: tsakanoi@pparc.geophys.tohoku.ac.jp
AF: PPARC, Grad. School of Sci., Tohoku Univ., Aramaki, Aoba, Sendai, 980-8578, Japan
AU: Ueda, S
EM: ueda@pat.geophys.tohoku.ac.jp
AF: Dept. of Geophysics, Tohoku Univ., Aramaki, Aoba, Sendai, 980-8578, Japan
AU: Kondo, S
EM: kondo@pat.geophys.tohoku.ac.jp
AF: Dept. of Geophysics, Tohoku Univ., Aramaki, Aoba, Sendai, 980-8578, Japan
AU: Yoshida, K
EM: yoshida@astro.mech.tohoku.ac.jp
AF: Dept. Aeronautics and Space Eng., Tohoku Univ., Aramaki, Aoba, Sendai, 980-8578, Japan
AU: Sakamoto, Y
EM: sakamoto@astro.mech.tohoku.ac.jp
AF: Dept. Aeronautics and Space Eng., Tohoku Univ., Aramaki, Aoba, Sendai, 980-8578, Japan
AU: Takashima, T
EM: ttakeshi@stp.isas.jaxa.jp
AF: ISAS/JAXA, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Sagamihara, 229-8510, Japan
AB: SPRITE-SAT is now being developed in-house by the Tohoku University team, which will be launched in August 2008. The total weight of the satellite would be less than 50 kg, including 4-5 kg science mission payload. There are two scientific objectives in this micro-satellite mission: the first is to identify the generation mechanisms of sprites by investigating their horizontal structures, and the second is to identify the generation mechanisms of TGFs by investigating their source location and relationship to lightning discharges. Lightning and Sprite Imager- 1 and 2 (LSI-1 and 2) are CMOS cameras with 512 x 512 pixels and the pixel size of 25 um, which pointed at nadir to take images of the horizontal structures of lightning and sprites. In order to detect lightning emissions, we equip LSI-1 with a broadband filter between 740 and 830 nm. We also equip LSI-2 with a rather narrow band- pass filter centered at 762 nm. The optics and the detector array altogether yield an effective field of view (FOV) of 35 deg, giving the pixel resolution of less than 660 m from the altitude of 660 km. Wide Field CCD imager (WFC) is a CCD camera with 659 x 494 pixels and the pixel size of 7.4 um, which takes images of lightning discharges inducing TGFs. WFC is also pointed at nadir and is equipped fish-eye lens (FOV is larger than180 deg). The outputs of all cameras are digitized by 10 bit A/D conversion. One instrumental case contains LSIs and WFC and the total weights is 630 g. In order to detect TGFs, terrestrial gamma-ray counter (TGC) which consists of CsI scintillator is installed at the satellite. TGC can detect gamma-rays in the energy range from 30keV to a few MeV. This satellite also equips a VLF antenna which receives VLF radiations from lightning discharges. At the presentation, we will show the specifications of the instruments and the status of the satellite development more in detail.
DE: 3304 Atmospheric electricity
DE: 3324 Lightning
DE: 3360 Remote sensing
SC: Atmospheric and Space Electricity [AE]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting