Advanced Ionospheric Sensing using GROUP-C and LITES aboard the ISS

Abstract:

The GPS Radio Occultation and Ultraviolet Photometer Co-located (GROUP-C) and Limb-imaging Ionospheric and Thermospheric Extreme-ultraviolet Spectrograph (LITES) experiments are manifested for flight aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in 2016 as part of the Space Test Program Houston #5 payload. The two experiments provide technical development and risk-reduction for future DoD space weather sensors suitable for ionospheric specification, space situational awareness, and data products for global ionosphere assimilative models. In addition, the combined instrument complement of these two experiments offers a unique opportunity to study structures of the nighttime ionosphere. GROUP-C includes an advanced GPS receiver providing ionospheric electron density profiles and scintillation measurements and a high-sensitivity far-ultraviolet photometer measuring horizontal ionospheric gradients. LITES is an imaging spectrograph that spans 60–140 nm and will obtain high-cadence limb profiles of the ionosphere and thermosphere from 150-350 km altitude.

In the nighttime ionosphere, recombination of O⁺ and electrons produces optically thin emissions at 91.1 and 135.6 nm that can be used to tomographically reconstruct the two-dimensional plasma distribution in the orbital plane below ISS altitudes. Ionospheric irregularities, such as plasma bubbles and blobs, are transient features of the low and middle latitude ionosphere with important implications for operational systems. Irregularity structures have been studied primarily using ground-based systems, though some spaced-based remote and in-situ sensing has been performed. An ionospheric observatory aboard the ISS would provide new capability to study low- and mid-latitude ionospheric structures on a global scale. By combining for the first time high-sensitivity in-track photometry, vertical ionospheric airglow spectrographic imagery, and recent advancements in UV tomography, high-fidelity tomographic reconstruction of nighttime structures can be performed from the ISS. We discuss the tomographic approach, simulated reconstructions, and value added by including complementary ground-based observations. Acknowledgements: This work is supported by NRL Work Unit 76-1C09-05.