Mechanical aspects of the Thermal InfraRed system (TIRS) on Landsat 8

Author

Robinson, David ; Tonn, Synthia

Author_Institution

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA

fYear

2015

fDate

7-14 March 2015

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

10

Abstract

The Thermal InfraRed Sensor (TIRS) instrument was launched into space on board Landsat 8 in February 2013. This instrument was added to Landsat 8 to measure water evaporation and transpiration as well as provide two thermal infrared bands to complement the optical suite. TIRS has a refractive telescope which focuses a light onto a focal plane cooled to 43K with a two-stage cryocooler. This paper will detail the mechanical aspects of TIRS including a description of its composite honeycomb box design, flexures, large deployable earth shield, and accommodations for the telescope, detector, and cryocooler. The design, build, test, and delivery of TIRS was accomplished in three years on an accelerated schedule at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The assembly and test flow are discussed including qualification of the structure in vibration and acoustic tests.

Keywords

evaporation; hydrological techniques; infrared detectors; remote sensing; transpiration; AD 2013 02; Landsat 8; NASA Goddard space flight center; TIRS mechanical aspects; acoustic tests; detector; earth shield; flexures; honeycomb box design; optical suite; refractive telescope; thermal infrared bands; thermal infrared sensor instrument; transpiration; two-stage cryocooler; vibration tests; water evaporation; Biographies; Earth; Geology; Image resolution; NASA; Telescopes;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Aerospace Conference, 2015 IEEE

Conference_Location

Big Sky, MT

Print_ISBN

978-1-4799-5379-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/AERO.2015.7119197

Filename

7119197