HiMAP: High-resolution Metagrating spectropolarimeter for Aerosol Profiling (HiMAP)

The 2017 Earth Sciences Decadal Survey underscored the critical demand for global aerosol vertical distribution measurements in the troposphere and planetary boundary layer (PBL) through a wide-swath, low Earth orbit (LEO) instrument to enhance air quality predictions and advance our understanding of aerosols' impact on Earth's energy budget and climate. While traditional passive remote sensing technologies like MODIS, VIIRS, and TROPOMI offer global coverage of total aerosol column quantities, their capability to delineate aerosols' vertical distribution--crucial for precise air quality forecasts and understanding aerosols' influence on Earth's energy dynamics--remains limited. Active remote sensing Lidar technologies, such as the now-decommissioned CALIOP, have set a precedent in space-based aerosol extinction coefficient profiling but are constrained by their narrow spatial coverage (< 1 km across satellite ground track), limiting our comprehension of aerosols' global implications on climate, air quality, and atmospheric motion. The High-resolution Metagrating spectropolarimeter for Aerosol Profiling (HiMAP) presents a groundbreaking advancement. Designed as a state-of-the-art passive remote sensing instrument, HiMAP transcends CALIOP's capabilities, offering global-scale vertical aerosol profiling with unprecedented spatial coverage--delivering an 800-fold increase in spatial reach compared to CALIOP, without sacrificing vertical resolution. This is achieved through the innovative metagrating technology, enabling HiMAP to simultaneously conduct precise linear polarization quantification (with a degree of linear polarization accuracy within ±0.005), high spectral dispersion (spectral resolving power of 4300), and broad swath imaging (approximately 800 km swath width across satellite ground track). HiMAP is a cost-effective solution for global aerosol profiling from LEO, owing to its form factor (volume of 0.5m3, a mass of 35kg, a power requirement of 65W, and an average data rate of 7.4 Mbps in orbit) optimized for deployment on an ESPA-class small satellite. Building on the foundation laid by previous research and technology development (R&TD) efforts funded by ESTO and JPL, which aimed to elevate HiMAP's Technology Readiness Level (TRL) to qualify for the IIP program, our proposal seeks to further advance HiMAP. Previous milestones include (1) defining HiMAP's instrument design requirements, (2) advancing metagrating technology, which is the key component of HiMAP instrument, from TRL2 to 4 through successful design, fabrication, and performance validation of metagratings, and (3) completing HiMAP's optical design and fabrication with all components meeting or exceeding specifications. In this IIP effort, we propose to continue maturing HiMAP system from an entry TRL3 to an exit TRL5 for LEO satellites and an exit TRL6 for high-altitude ER-2 suborbital platform. This progression involves integration of pre-acquired optics and cameras to form a HiMAP system, followed by detailed laboratory tests, ground-based and airborne demonstrations to validate HiMAP's performance across spatial and spectral resolutions, signal-to-noise ratios, radiometric and polarimetric accuracies, and aerosol profiling precision. Successfully demonstrating HiMAP's capabilities will provide critical validation of its unique 3-D aerosol mapping abilities, fulfilling a pivotal need of the NASA Earth Science community for advanced aerosol observation and science application. The period of performance is 3 years.

Increase scientific understanding of natural phenomena using remote sensing.

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