MRI: Development of an Airborne Stabilized Platform for InfraRed Experiments (ASPIRE)

这个为期三年的磁共振成像项目的主要目的是为NSF/NCAR Gulfstream-V(GV)飞机设计和建造一个太阳跟踪平台，并通过在2020年整个南美洲日全食期间飞行两个焦平面仪器来展示其能力。红外实验机载稳定平台(ASPIRE)建立在机载红外光谱仪(AIR-SPEC)的成功基础上，将GV转变为太阳能和大气仪器快速原型的太阳观测平台。通过在GV飞机上添加稳定的太阳能馈电，项目组将创建一个红外遥感机载平台，这将是太阳能和大气社区的宝贵资源。在太阳物理学中，20厘米的馈源将使太阳盘上和太阳盘外的许多应用程序成为可能。例如，在即将到来的日食任务中，ASPIRE将提供足够的吞吐量，使用机载版本的日冕多通道偏振仪(COMP)进行极化测量。项目团队将在2021年第一季度向NSF和NCAR交付ASPIRE接口文档。ASPIRE项目将在Smithsonian Institution天体物理天文台(SAO)为至少三名REU学生提供终身研究培训。该团队将让波士顿的一名本科生参与ASPIRE开发，并将这名学生带到智利参加各种EPO活动。2020年和2021年的夏季试飞将为两名REU学生提供现场测试经验。将日全食与GV研究飞机相结合是吸引公众兴趣的绝佳方式。随着2019年和2020年的日食横跨南美，SAO和NCAR的工作人员将联系美国大使馆人员，安排参观独特的GV飞机，并就日食科学发表演讲。这个为期三年的核磁共振项目的主要目标是开发ASPIRE，它将提供20厘米直径的太阳馈电，在3秒曝光时间内稳定在5弧秒RMS。该平台非常适合对太阳进行红外调查，因为它可以在地球大气层的影响之上运行，并适用于大气测量，这些气体是通过观察透过大气吸收波段的太阳光而获得的。ASPIRE将提供0.45至10微米的宽带可见光和红外传输，与GV的所有红外传输视窗兼容。在2020年的试飞期间，ASPIRE将为一台13厘米望远镜提供两个互补的焦平面仪器：Air-Spec(成像光谱仪)和一个以Air-Spec 1.43微米硅X线为中心的新窄带成像器。AIR-SPEC的设计是为了表征1.4微米到4微米之间的五条磁敏日冕发射线，并评估它们是否是有用的日冕磁性探测器。在2017年日全食期间，它观测到了所有五条目标线，首次探测到了2.84微米的FeIX。从太阳边缘观测到了高达0.6太阳半径的强硅X线，并提供了分辨率为5公里/S的视线速度测量。与2019年的观测结果(比2017年提高6倍)相比，ASPIRE启用的更大的望远镜孔径将使AIR-SPEC SNR提高1.5倍，使项目组能够探索当前AIR-SPEC仪器探测到的日冕密度和温度测量、流动和振荡。SiX上下文成像器将减少对狭缝进行光栅化的需要，使我们能够通过对一分钟以上的“坐和盯”狭缝数据求和来提高信噪比。该项目的研究和EPO议程支持AGS部门在发现、学习、多样性和跨学科研究方面的战略目标。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The main purpose of this three-year MRI project is to design and build a solar-tracking platform for the NSF/NCAR Gulfstream-V (GV) aircraft, and demonstrate its capabilities by flying two focal plane instruments during the 2020 total solar eclipse across South America. The Airborne Stabilized Platform for InfraRed Experiments (ASPIRE) builds on the success of the Airborne InfraRed Spectrometer (AIR-Spec), turning the GV into a solar-viewing platform for rapid prototyping of solar and atmospheric instruments. By adding a stabilized solar feed to the GV aircraft, the project team will create an airborne platform for infrared remote sensing that will be a valuable resource for both the solar and atmospheric communities. In solar physics, the 20cm feed would enable many applications on and off the solar disk. During the upcoming eclipse mission, for example, the ASPIRE will provide enough throughput to make polarimetric measurements with an airborne version of the Coronal Multichannel Polarimeter (CoMP). The project team will deliver the ASPIRE interface documentation to NSF and NCAR in first quarter 2021. The ASPIRE project will provide research training for at least three REU students at the Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) over its lifetime. The team will involve a Boston-based undergraduate in the ASPIRE development and bring this student to Chile to participate in various EPO activities. Summer test flights in 2020 and 2021 will provide field testing experience for two REU students. Combining a total solar eclipse with the GV research aircraft is an excellent way to captivate public interest. As both the 2019 and 2020 eclipses cross South America, the SAO and NCAR staff will reach out to U.S. Embassy personnel to arrange tours of the unique GV aircraft and give talks on eclipse science.The main goal of this three-year MRI project is to develop the ASPIRE, which will provide a 20cm diameter solar feed, stabilized to 5 arcsec RMS over a 3 second exposure time. The platform is well-suited for infrared investigations of the Sun, as it can operate above the influence of Earth's atmosphere, and for atmospheric measurements of trace gases obtained by observing sunlight transmitted through atmospheric absorption bands. The ASPIRE will provide broadband visible and infrared transmission from 0.45 to 10 microns, compatible with all of the GV's IR-transmissive viewports. During its 2020 commissioning flight, ASPIRE will feed a 13cm telescope with two complementary focal plane instruments: AIR-Spec (an imaging spectrometer) and a new narrowband imager centered on the AIR-Spec 1.43 micron Si X line. AIR-Spec was designed to characterize five magnetically sensitive coronal emission lines between 1.4 and 4 microns and assess whether they are useful probes of coronal magnetism. It observed all five of its target lines during the 2017 total solar eclipse, detecting the 2.84 micron Fe IX for the first time. The strong Si X line was observed up to 0.6 solar radii from the limb and provided line-of-sight velocity measurements with a resolution of 5 km/s. The larger telescope aperture enabled by ASPIRE will improve the AIR-Spec SNR by a factor of 1.5 compared to its 2019 observation (6x improvement over 2017), allowing the project team to explore the coronal density and temperature measurements, flows, and oscillations that are on the edge of detection with the current AIR-Spec instrumentation. The Si X context imager will reduce the need for rastering the slit, allowing us to improve SNR by summing 'sit and stare' slit data for more than a minute. The research and EPO agenda of this project supports the Strategic Goals of the AGS Division in discovery, learning, diversity, and interdisciplinary research.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.