Pointing and sun-tracker system for the LPMA gondola

Toufic-Michel Hawat; Roger J. Torguet; Claude Camy-Peyret; P. Jeseck; S. Payan

doi:10.1117/12.241908

7 June 1996 Pointing and sun-tracker system for the LPMA gondola

Toufic-Michel Hawat, Roger J. Torguet, Claude Camy-Peyret, P. Jeseck, S. Payan

Proceedings Volume 2739, Acquisition, Tracking, and Pointing X; (1996) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.241908
Event: Aerospace/Defense Sensing and Controls, 1996, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

The LPMA (limb profile monitor of the atmosphere) instrument is a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer of the BOMEM DA2.01 type. It is used to perform balloon-borne remote sensing measurements of stratospheric (and in some case tropospheric) trace species. As an instrument working in absorption against the sun it is accommodated on a stratospheric gondola with pointing capabilities. The primary pointing system is used to put (and to maintain) the sun into the field of view of a sun-tracker (heliostat) acting as a fine pointing system to compensate for the residual motions of the gondola. This configuration allows to feed in a stable manner the infrared solar radiation along the optical axis of the spectrometer (through a germanium window used to reject the unused visible-UV flux). The complete system i.e. gondola, pointing-system, heliostat, FTIR spectrometer, on board processing and recording as well as telemetry unit has flown several times (from Aire-sur- l'Adour in France, from ESRANGE in Sweden and from Leon in Spain) under stratospheric balloons operated by CNES. A description of the various subsystems will be presented together with samples of representative ground tests and in flight measurements.

Citation Download Citation

Toufic-Michel Hawat, Roger J. Torguet, Claude Camy-Peyret, P. Jeseck, and S. Payan "Pointing and sun-tracker system for the LPMA gondola", Proc. SPIE 2739, Acquisition, Tracking, and Pointing X, (7 June 1996); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.241908

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