Research On Ionospheric Optical Remote Sensing Detection Technology Based On Micro-nano Satellite

The ionosphere is closely related to human activities. Satellite communications, GPS positioning and navigation, and SAR imaging detection require for the fine detection of total ionospheric electron content (TEC) and F2 layer peak electron (NmF2).

There are two development trends in ionospheric optical remote sensing. First, large imaging spectrometer for multi-band and large field of view detection to obtain sufficient ionospheric information is developed; Second, miniaturized photometer design for ionospheric photometer is also developed. In terms of miniaturization, the ionospheric TEC and F2 layer peak electron density can be directly obtained by using an ionospheric photometer which detects the ionospheric nighttime OI135.6nm airglow intensity.An ionospheric photometer (IPM) carried aboard the FY3-D satellite which launched on November 11, 2017 has successfully obtained the fine structure changes and small changes in the ionosphere.Also, the high-sensitivity detection advantage of the IPM was fully realized.

In recent years, micro-nano satellite technology has developed rapidly, and there are already mature and stable optical micro-nano satellite platforms available. Micro-nano satellites are light in weight, small in size, low in cost, short in development cycle, high in functional density, fast and flexible. And multiple micro-nano satellites can be used to form a constellation or formation flight.

This report will introduce the design of the ionospheric optical remote sensing payload carried on the micro-nano satellite. Combined with the characteristics of the micro-nano satellite such as "small /fast/flexible", easy formation or networking, the revisit period of the ionospheric environment detection can be greatly shortened while obtaining high-sensitivity ionospheric detection results. In addition, combined detection of micro-nano photometers in different observation bands can achieve all weather observation capability of the ionospheric environment.