Optomechanical design of a next generation carbon mapping hyperspectral imaging spectrometer

Abstract

Through an innovative public-private partnership, a new generation of high-fidelity hyperspectral imaging spectrometers has been designed to pinpoint, quantify, and track methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) point-source emissions from super-emitters to help enable reduction of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. Two identical instruments, built concurrently at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (referred to by JPL as the Carbon Plume Mapper project, CPM) and Planet Labs as part of the Carbon Mapper Coalition, feature an identical design which comprises a glass-ceramic, three-mirror anastigmat (TMA) telescope, held in place via a composite metering structure, and Dyson form spectrometer which reduces volume and mass for a fast (F/1.8) optical system. The telescope has a focal length and cross-track field of view (FOV) of 400 mm and 2.6 deg, respectively. Operating in the 400 – 2500 nm spectral range with 5.0 nm sampling, this spectrometer design has the sensitivity and resolution required to meet the demanding needs of space-based detection and quantification of CO2 and CH4 emissions. This work describes the instruments’ optomechanical configuration. © 2023. All rights reserved.