BackForwardInstrument:  NACHOS-Imager 

Instrument details
Acronym NACHOS-Imager
Full name NACHOS-Imager
Purpose To produce a trace-gas hyperspectral imaging capability on a 3U CubeSat platform
Short description A UV/VIS grating spectrometer with a spectral range 290-500 nm, 1.2 nm resolution, 0.6 nm sampling giving 350 channels.
Background New development
Scanning Technique Push-broom scanning
Resolution 0.4 km at 500 km orbit
Coverage / Cycle 350-pixel swath width corresponds to a ~140 km swath at 500 km altitude.
Mass 4 kg Power Data Rate

 

Providing Agency LANL
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2022 to 2026
Last update: 2022-07-18
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
  • Cross-nadir shortwave (UV/VIS) sounder
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 1
  • UV/VIS/NIR sounders, nadir and limb
  • UV/VIS/NIR nadir sounder
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Aerosol Absorption Optical Depth
  • Aerosol column burden
  • Aerosol mass mixing ratio
  • Aerosol volcanic ash
  • BrO
  • HCHO Total Column
  • NO2
  • O3 Tropospheric Column
  • SO2
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
Aerosol column burden*2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.UV (for absorbing aerosol) and VIS spectrometry
Aerosol effective radius2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.UV (for absorbing aerosol) and VIS spectrometry
Aerosol mass mixing ratio*2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.UV (for absorbing aerosol) and VIS spectrometry
Aerosol Optical Depth2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.UV (for absorbing aerosol) and VIS spectrometry
Aerosol type2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.UV (for absorbing aerosol) and VIS spectrometry
HCHO Total Column*3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.UV spectrometry. HCHO lines around 350 nm
Cloud cover5 - marginalDaylight only.VIS spectroscopy
Cloud optical depth5 - marginalLow-density cloud only.. Daylight only.VIS spectrometry
NO2 Total Column3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.UV spectrometry. Several NO2 lines
O33 - highCloud sensitive.. Coarse vertical resolution.. Daylight only.UV spectrometry. Ozone lines in the bands around 260 nm (Hartley) and/or 340 nm (Huggins)
O3 Total Column2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.UV and VIS spectrometry. Ozone lines in the bands around 260 nm (Hartley) and/or 340 nm (Huggins) and 600 nm (Chappuis)
PSC occurrence2 - very highCoarse vertical resolution.. Daylight only.UV and VIS spectrometry
SO2 Total Column5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.UV spectrometry. SO2 lines around 350 nm
Aerosol volcanic ash*2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.UV (specifically sensitive to ash) and VIS spectrometry
Aerosol volcanic ash Total Column2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.UV (specifically sensitive to ash) and VIS spectrometry