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

这项为期三年的核磁共振项目的主要目的是为NSF/NCAR湾流- v （GV）飞机设计和建造一个太阳跟踪平台，并在2020年日全食期间飞越南美洲，通过飞行两个焦平面仪器来展示其能力。机载红外实验稳定平台（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。通过为GV飞机增加稳定的太阳能馈源，项目团队将创建一个红外遥感机载平台，这将成为太阳能和大气社区的宝贵资源。在太阳物理学中，20厘米的馈入将使太阳盘内外的许多应用成为可能。例如，在即将到来的日食任务中，ASPIRE将提供足够的吞吐量，用机载版日冕多通道偏振计（CoMP）进行偏振测量。项目团队将在2021年第一季度向NSF和NCAR提供ASPIRE接口文档。ASPIRE项目将在其生命周期内为史密森学会天体物理天文台（SAO）的至少三名REU学生提供研究培训。该团队将让一名波士顿的本科生参与ASPIRE的开发，并将该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。由于2019年和2020年的日食都将穿越南美洲，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，并就日食科学进行演讲。这个为期三年的MRI项目的主要目标是开发ASPIRE，它将提供直径20厘米的太阳能馈源，在3秒的曝光时间内稳定在5弧秒的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下工作，也非常适合通过观测通过大气吸收带传输的阳光来对微量气体进行大气测量。ASPIRE将提供0.45到10微米的宽带可见光和红外传输，与所有GV的红外传输视口兼容。在2020年的调试飞行中，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）和一台以AIR-Spec 1.43微米Si X线为中心的新型窄带成像仪。​在2017年的日全食期间，它观测到了所有5条目标线，首次探测到2.84微米的Fe IX。强Si X线在距离翼部0.6太阳半径的范围内被观测到，并提供了分辨率为5 km/s的视线速度测量。ASPIRE支持的更大望远镜口径将使AIR-Spec的信噪比比2019年的观测结果提高1.5倍（比2017年提高6倍），使项目团队能够探索当前AIR-Spec仪器检测边缘的日冕密度和温度测量、流动和振荡。Si X环境成像仪将减少对狭缝光栅化的需求，使我们能够通过将“坐着盯着”的狭缝数据加在一起超过一分钟来提高信噪比。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。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.