WMO OSCAR | Details for Instrument Pyxis-RO

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Instrument: Pyxis-RO

Instrument details

Acronym	Pyxis-RO
Full name	Pyxis-RO
Purpose	Temperature/humidity sounding with highest vertical resolution, space weather
Short description	Measuring the phase delay due to refraction during occultation between GPS and LEO
Background	Consolidated technology
Scanning Technique	Limb scanning from 600 km to close-to-surface by time sampling - Azimuth: 90° sectors fore- and aft-
Resolution	About 300 km horizontal, 0.5 km vertical
Coverage / Cycle	4 GNSS constellations tracked. About 2500 soundings/day (about 50,000 soundings/day with 20 satellites) - Average spacing 450 km - Global coverage (300 km spacing) in 2.5 days.
Mass		Power	Data Rate

Providing Agency	PlanetiQ
Instrument Maturity	Backed by strong heritage
Utilization Period:	2020 to 2028
Last update:	2024-03-04

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

GNSS Navigation and Occultation Measurement Satellites (PlanetiQ)
- GNOMES-1 (see instrument status) Nov 2020 - 2021
- GNOMES-2 (see instrument status) Sep 2021 - 2026
- GNOMES-3 (see instrument status) Jul 2022 - 2027
- GNOMES-4 (see instrument status) Dec 2023 - 2028
- GNOMES-5 (see instrument status) Aug 2024 - 2028

Instrument classification

Earth observation instrument
Active and radio-occultation sensor
GNSS radio-occultation

WIGOS Subcomponents

Subcomponent 2
Magnetospheric energetic particles and magnetometers
Ionospheric total electron content sensor [at LEO and cross magnetosphere]
Ionospheric electron density sensor [in LEO and cross magnetosphere]
Subcomponent 4
GNSS radio occultation (commercial)
GNSS radio occultation constellation (commercial)

Mission objectives

Primary mission objectives

Atmospheric temperature
Height of the top of PBL
Height of the tropopause
Ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC)
Specific humidity
Temperature of the tropopause

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.

Variable	Relevance for measuring this variable	Operational limitations	Explanation
Atmospheric temperature*	1 - primary	Inaccurate in low troposphere.	Flown in a satellite cluster. Two directional antennas, three GNSS systems tracked, about 1500 soundings/day per satellite
Geoid	4 - fair	Highly indirect.	Radio-occultation processing implies precise orbitography. Geoid derived from multi-temporal analysis
Gravity field	5 - marginal	Highly indirect.	Radio-occultation processing implies precise orbitography. Gravity field derived from multi-temporal analysis
Height of the top of PBL*	1 - primary	No specific limitation.	Flown in a satellite cluster. Two directional antennas, three GNSS systems tracked, about 1500 soundings/day per satellite. PBL top measured as discontinuity of the refraction index
Height of the tropopause*	1 - primary	No specific limitation.	Flown in a satellite cluster. Two directional antennas, three GNSS systems tracked, about 1500 soundings/day per satellite. Tropopause height measured as discontinuity of the refraction index
Specific humidity*	2 - very high	Inaccurate in high troposphere.	Flown in a satellite cluster. Two directional antennas, three GNSS systems tracked, about 1500 soundings/day per satellite
Temperature of the tropopause*	1 - primary	No specific limitation.	Flown in a satellite cluster. Two directional antennas, three GNSS systems tracked, about 1500 soundings/day per satellite
Atmospheric density	1 - primary	No specific limitation.	Measuring atmospheric density
Electron Density	1 - primary	No specific limitation.	Flown in a satellite cluster. Two directional antennas, three GNSS systems tracked, about 1500 soundings/day per satellite
Ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC)*	2 - very high	No specific limitation.	Flown in a satellite cluster. Two directional antennas, three GNSS systems tracked, about 1500 soundings/day per satellite
Ionospheric Scintillation	4 - fair	No specific limitation.	Flown in a satellite cluster. Two directional antennas, three GNSS systems tracked, about 1500 soundings/day per satellite