(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018-02-05)
Himani, Tanish
MicroNimbus is a small satellite mission being developed by the Georgia Institute of
Technology and Georgia Tech Research Institute that will utilize a frequency-agile mm wave radiometer to measure and update the temperature profile of the atmosphere from
a 3U CubeSat platform. The on-board radiometer instrument will provide atmospheric
temperature profile data at an altitude resolution of 10 km, a geographic resolution of 0.5°,
and a temperature resolution of 2K RMS. The mission strongly aligns with the goals set
forth in NASA’s Science Plan and will generate data valuable to researchers in the fields
of weather forecasting, LIDAR, and laser communications. MicroNimbus has passed its
Preliminary Design Review (PDR) phase and is moving towards the Critical Design Review
(CDR) for the mission. If successful, MicroNimbus will serve as a first step towards the
creation of a constellation of satellites designed to perform near real-time temperature
profiling of the atmosphere.