A novel miniaturised atmospheric aerosol satellite instrument: developing a small form factor multi-angle spectropolarimeter

气溶胶，大气中的微小颗粒，通过几种途径影响我们的气候和健康。这些途径包括直接辐射强迫（通过散射入射的太阳辐射而冷却，或通过捕获逸出的红外辐射而加热）、间接辐射强迫（影响云特性）以及通过吸入对人类健康产生不利影响。我们对全球大气气溶胶的类型和程度的了解存在很大的不确定性，需要更多的数据，而配备小型化气溶胶仪器的卫星群可以通过新空间平台提供更高的分辨率和更大的覆盖范围，从而补充更大的任务。小型化是地球观测技术发展的一个重要方向。泰雷兹阿莱尼亚航天英国有限公司（TAS-UK）和莱斯特大学在空间技术开发方面有着长期的合作记录，例如在新型微型空气质量仪器[4]的概念上。该博士学位将应用仪器和数据处理开发相结合的方法来优化塔斯-英国多角度偏振仪（MAP）仪器[5]，用于小型气溶胶聚焦任务。

Aerosols, tiny particles in the atmosphere, impact our climate [1] and our health [2] through several pathways. These pathways include direct radiative forcing (cooling through scattering of incoming solar radiation or heating through trapping of outgoing infrared radiation), indirect radiative forcing (influencing cloud properties), and adversely effecting human health through inhalation. There are large uncertainties on our understanding of type and extent of atmospheric aerosol globally, and more data are needed and constellations of satellites with miniaturised aerosol instruments can complement larger missions by bringing higher resolution and greater coverage accessible through New Space platforms. Miniaturisation is an important effort across Earth observation technology development [3]. Thales Alenia Space UK Ltd (TAS-UK) and University of Leicester have a long track record of collaboration on space technology development, for example in concepts for new miniature air quality instruments [4]. This PhD will apply a combined instrumentation and data processing development approach to underpin optimisation of the TAS-UK Multi-Angle Polarimeter (MAP) instrument [5] for miniaturised aerosol-focused missions.