[Previous] | [Session 51] | [Next]
A. Buffington, B.V. Jackson, P.P. Hick (UCSD/CASS), T.A. Kuchar (Institute for Scientific Research, Boston College)
The Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI) is a collaborative project between the Air Force, UCSD/CASS, and the University of Birmingham, England. It will fly on the CORIOLIS spacecraft, scheduled for launch at the end of 2001. The platform provides a zenith-pointing, terminator orbit. SMEI's three CCD cameras, each viewing a 3 x 60 degree swath of sky, will provide a visible-light map of nearly the entire sky each 100-minute orbit. The instrument is designed to deliver 0.1% differential photometry, and 10-15 scattered-light reduction when viewing further than 20 degrees from the Sun. We present the results of laboratory measurements which certify that these specifications are met by the SMEI flight hardware. We will also present night-sky data taken with the SMEI prototype optics. This work is supported by AFRL contract F19628-00-C-0029.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: abuffington@ucsd.edu