The Design and Testing of a Rocket-Borne Noctilucent Cloud Photometer
Document ID: 22
Senior Honors Thesis
The Pennsylvania State University
Abstract
Penn State’s rocket-launch program, SPIRIT, brings together an international coalition of students interested in designing experiments and constructing a rocket payload to measure the high-latitude atmosphere. SPIRIT’s optics team has particular interest in investigating the properties of noctilucent clouds (NLC) present in the mesosphere. The purpose of studying NLC is that a better understanding of their properties may provide insight into the global atmospheric changes caused by pollutants present in the atmosphere and the global energy balance. The analysis of the solar radiation that the NLC particles scatter will provide insight to the number and size distribution from measurements by a rocket-borne photometer aboard SPIRIT’s payload. This report includes a description of the following topics: NLC, Mie scattering theory, past rocket-borne photometers, photometer circuitry, circuit analysis, photometer layout, and preliminary lab-based design tests.
Keywords: noctilucent clouds, optical scattering, mesosphere, D-region, E-region, ion and electron plasma
| Citation: | M. A. Oratis, "The Design and Testing of a Rocket-Borne Noctilucent Cloud Photometer", The Pennsylvania State University, Senior Honors Thesis, 2005, 36 pages |