MRI: Development of a Compact Echelle Spectrograph for Aeronomical Research (CESAR)

研究人员将设计、制造、校准和委托使用便携式航空研究紧凑型回声光谱仪(CESAR)，其波长覆盖范围为310-1040 nm，分辨率为波长的1/20,000，灵敏度专门为满足大气研究人员的需求而量身定做。为了提供大气研究所需的增强的空间覆盖，CESAR将从7度到20度的视场狭缝采样全天空覆盖和任意狭缝方向的光谱。塞萨尔是为自主操作而设计的，支持需求仅限于电力和互联网接入。由于光谱分辨率、灵敏度、响应时间和仪器的便携性都有了很大的提高，光谱仪将使从平流层到外流层的动力学、物理和化学研究成为可能。将该仪器与目前位于阿拉斯加扑克平原研究靶场的美国国家科学基金会的高级模块化非相干散射雷达(AMICR)放在一起，将能够详细评估离子和中性物质之间的能量转移以及极光内外大气区域的垂直耦合。通过同时监测大范围的波长，可以监测极光后大气成分的变化以及驱动极光的初级电子能量。阿拉斯加也是HAARP电离层加热设施的所在地，该设施将受益于该仪器的高分辨率和宽光谱范围提供的额外诊断信息。该仪器的便携性使其能够参与非极光观测活动，例如对犹他州熊湖天文台发生的电离层气泡的调查，在那里它将有助于提供有关重要原子和分子物种同时发射的信息，并调查长寿命流星串的机制。SRI致力于发展CESAR，以培养学生，激发大气调查的新途径，并加强学术研究的支持基础。由来自六所大学的研究人员组成了一个塞萨尔开发团队，以制定设计和调试目标，最大限度地增加研究生、博士后研究员和教职员工级别的大气研究人员的参与。学术和工业团队成员将在Cesar制造过程中为新生和博士后研究员提供实践经验。来自阿拉斯加大学、康奈尔大学、伊利诺伊大学和犹他州立大学的高级人员在阿拉斯加费尔班克斯的扑克平板火箭靶场(PFRR)为塞萨尔制定了一套科学目标。这些目标将通过研究电子和质子降水、极光对大气成分的影响、大气化学以及原子氧对热层加热的响应来利用塞萨尔的独特能力。CESAR仪器将使学术研究人员能够远程访问来自遥远但具有地球物理意义的区域的高价值光谱数据，从而对我国的研究基础设施产生持久的影响。该项目还将重振空间科学实地研究与辅助物理化学实验室研究之间的联系。

The investigators will design, fabricate, calibrate, and commission a portable Compact Echelle Spectrograph for Aeronomical Research (CESAR), with 310 -1040 nm wavelength coverage, a resolution of 1/20,000 of the wavelength, and sensitivity specifically tailored to meet the needs of atmospheric researchers. In order to provide the enhanced spatial coverage required for atmospheric research, the CESAR will sample spectra from a 7 degree to 20 degree field-of-view slit with all-sky coverage and arbitrary slit orientation. The CESAR is designed for autonomous operation with support needs limited to power and internet access. Because of the great improvement in spectral resolution, sensitivity, response time, and the instrument's transportability, the spectrograph will enable new investigations of the dynamics, physics, and chemistry from the stratosphere to the exosphere. Co-locating the instrument with NSF's Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar (AMISR), currently situated at Alaska's Poker Flat Research Range, would enable detailed evaluation of the energy transfer between ions and neutrals and the vertical coupling of atmospheric regions within and below the aurora. By monitoring a broad range of wavelengths simultaneously, the changes in atmospheric composition following an aurora may be monitored as well as the primary electron energy driving the aurora. Alaska is also the site of the HAARP ionospheric heating facility, which would benefit from the additional diagnostic information provided by the instrument's high resolution and broad spectral range. The transportability of the instrument allows it to participate in non-auroral observational campaigns such as investigations of ionospheric bubbles occurring at Bear Lake Observatory in Utah, where it would contribute information on simultaneous emissions from important atomic and molecular species, and investigations of the mechanisms for long-lived meteor trains. SRI is committed to developing the CESAR so as to train students, stimulate new avenues of atmospheric investigation, and strengthen the support base for academic research. A CESAR development team has been formed with researchers from six universities to craft design and commissioning goals which will maximize the involvement of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty level atmospheric researchers. Academic and industrial team members will give new students and postdoctoral fellows hands-on experience during CESAR fabrication. Senior personnel from the University of Alaska, Cornell University, University of Illinois, and Utah State University have created a set of science goals for CESAR at the Poker Flat Rocket Range (PFRR) in Fairbanks, Alaska. These goals will leverage CESAR's unique capabilities by investigating electron and proton precipitation, auroral impact on atmospheric composition, meteoric chemistry, and atomic oxygen response to thermospheric heating. The CESAR instrument will have a lasting effect on our nation's research infrastructure by enabling remote access by academic researchers to high value spectroscopic data from remote, yet geophysically significant regimes. This project will also reinvigorate the connections between space science field research and supportive physical chemistry laboratory studies.