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Proceedings Paper

Pointing and sun-tracker system for the LPMA gondola
Author(s): Toufic-Michel Hawat; Roger J. Torguet; Claude Camy-Peyret; P. Jeseck; S. Payan
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Paper 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.

Paper Details

Date Published: 7 June 1996
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 2739, Acquisition, Tracking, and Pointing X, (7 June 1996); doi: 10.1117/12.241908
Show Author Affiliations
Toufic-Michel Hawat, IEMN and LPMA (France)
Roger J. Torguet, IEMN (France)
Claude Camy-Peyret, LPMA (France)
P. Jeseck, LPMA (France)
S. Payan, LPMA and CEA/CESTA (France)


Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2739:
Acquisition, Tracking, and Pointing X
Michael K. Masten; Larry A. Stockum, Editor(s)

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