A Hyperspectral Thermal Emission Spectrometer (HyTES) for High Altitude Applications

Abstract:

The Hyperspectral Thermal Emission Spectrometer (HyTES) is an airborne imaging spectrometer developed by JPL and originally configured on the Twin Otter aircraft. The instrument utilizes a thermal infrared Dyson imaging spectrometer and provides 256 spectral channels between 7.5 and 12 micrometers with 512 spatial pixels cross-track over a 50 degree field of view. HyTES has successfully completed multiple campaigns on the low altitude Twin Otter platform and is now capable of routinely capturing multi-species gas plumes over urban and other science-applicable environments. Current system upgrades and modifications are underway to configure HyTES on the ER-2 high altitude aircraft. The ER-2 aircraft will fly at an altitude greater than 18 km (60,000 ft) and provide a wide swath width with 35 m ground pixel size. High altitude observations from HyTES on the ER-2 platform will be used to support HyspIRI TIR measurement development. The modifications to the system maintain the capability of the HyTES instrument on the Twin Otter aircraft and a new vacuum enclosure significantly reduces both the mass and volume of the instrument scanhead. The current instrument performance, upgrades, and specifications of the high altitude system will be presented.