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Compact Total Irradiance Monitor Flight Demonstration

Next-gen technology for total solar irradiance monitoring

The Compact Total Irradiance Monitor-Flight Demonstration will help researchers develop new technologies for measuring Total Solar Irradiance (TSI), a “Most Important” measurement in the latest Earth Science Decadal Survey. This eight-channel, 6U CubeSat will spend one year in orbit to see if small satellites can be as effective at measuring TSI as larger sensors like the Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM) instrument used aboard the SORCE and TSIS-1 missions.

Mission Class:

CubeSats

Mission Status:

Current

LASP Roles:

Research, Data, Mission Operations, Engineering, Lead Institute

Science Target:

Sun

Mission Focus:

Climate, Solar Irradiance, Solar Physics

Primary Mission Site:

https://esto.nasa.gov/invest/ctim/

LASP Mission Site:

https://lasp.colorado.edu/ctim/

Launch Date: July 2, 2022
Prime Mission: 1 year

Lead Institution: LASP

Partners: NASA Earth Science Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Virgin Orbit

For four decades, scientists have used space-based remote sensors to measure TSI, which describes the amount of incident solar radiation that reaches the Earth from the sun. TSI is a major component of Earth’s radiative system, which impacts everything from local weather conditions to global climate change. Maintaining this unbroken record of TSI data is critical for preparing future generations of scientists to understand and mitigate the effects of climate change.

Lighter and more compact, CTIM features several improvements to the original TIM design. In particular, CTIM’s novel Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube (VACNT) bolometers mark a significant milestone in the quest to develop lightweight components for CubeSat-compatible instruments. These silicon-based bolometers will dramatically reduce the weight of the CTIM CubeSat without compromising its ability to measure the total irradiance of the sun (200 – 2400 nm) with an uncertainty of <0.01% and a stability of <0.001%/year. CTIM employs heritage technology previously developed on the ESTO project “Carbon Absolute Electrical Substitution Radiometers (CAESR)“.