BackForwardInstrument:  MMIA 

Instrument details
Acronym MMIA
Full name Modular Multispectral Imaging Array
Purpose Observation of Transient Luminous Events (TLE) that occur in the Earth's upper atmosphere accompanied by thunderstorms in the lower atmosphere.
Short description The instrument monitors the 777.4 nm and 337 nm bands in bandwidths only 5 nm wide. It includes 4 cameras and 4 photometers looking forward towards the limb and 2 cameras and 2 photometers looking downwards towards the nadir.
Background MMIA works in association to the Modular X-ray and Gamma-ray Sensor (MXGS).
Scanning Technique Array of 1024 x 1024 detectors looking either to the nadir within an 80° x 80° field of view, or at the limb within a 20° x 20 ° field of view. Time resolution: 65 ms.
Resolution 300-400 m at s.s.p., or 300-600 m at limb.
Coverage / Cycle Limited to latitudes consistent with the ISS orbit inclination (51.6°)
Mass Power Data Rate

 

Providing Agency ESA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2018 to 2024
Last update: 2022-08-01
Detailed characteristics
Satellites this instrument is flying on

Note: a red tag indicates satellites no longer operational, a green tag indicates operational satellites, a blue tag indicates future satellites

Instrument classification
  • Earth observation instrument
  • Passive optical radiometer or spectrometer
  • Lightning imager
WIGOS Subcomponents No WIGOS subcomponents have been defined.
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Total lightning stroke density
Evaluation of Measurements

The following list indicates which measurements can typically be retrieved from this category of instrument. To see a full Gap Analysis by Variable, click on the respective variable.

Note: table can be sorted by clicking on the column headers
Note: * Primary mission objective.
VariableRelevance for measuring this variableOperational limitationsExplanation
Total lightning stroke density*5 - marginalDiscontinuous availability.. Night time only.Coincidence flashes in UV/VIS/NIR channels, exploited for Transient Luminous Events (TLE) in the upper atmosphere.