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Completed TRL 4 (started at 3, targeting 4)
This project is to develop a mission/instrument concept in response to the 2017 Decadal Survey. The Advanced Limb Infrared Chemistry Experiment (ALICE) is an infrared limb scanner (wavelengths ~3-15 µm), which will measure important tropospheric and stratospheric constituents (including O3, H2O, HNO3, CH4, N2O, NO2, CFCs, clouds, temperature, and aerosols) with ~1 km vertical resolution from the mid-troposphere to the upper-stratosphere. This unique data set will allow us to observe and quantify transport between the troposphere and stratosphere, characterize the chemical composition of the climate-sensitive upper troposphere and lowermost stratosphere, and continue our long-term stratospheric record.
This instrument will increase Goddard's expertise in Infrared (IR) instrument development with applications to astronomy and Earth Science. The technology developments required for this instrument will cross over to a number of other fields including nadir sounders for planetary and Earth science, as well as astronomy. IR sensing technology has been under intense development over the last decade with innovations developed for the military and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and gives us the advantage of high vertical resolution without sacrificing single profile precision. This instrument will be taking advantage of a new class of commercial off the shelf high resolution imaging shortwave (SW)IR, midwave (MW)IR and thermal IR detectors along with compact coolers. The technology development will potentially include dual focal plane design and limb-view correcting optics. The ALICE mission will address high-impact scientific problems related to global air quality, constituent transport in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere, dehydration processes in the tropical tropopause layer, and lead to a better understanding of gravity waves. ALICE measurements would also continue NASA's profile measurements of stratospheric ozone and constituents important to ozone chemistry, with comprehensive measurements since the launch of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) in 1991 and sporadic missions back to the late 1970s and help fulfill NASA's congressional mandate to monitor and report on the ozone layer.
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