28 June 2000
MISR continues to operate beautifully. Please check out the MISR web site, where some new
images are available. We hope to begin updating the site with new imagery on a more regular
basis very soon.
The Atmospheric Sciences Data Center in Virginia has recently begun routinely processing
MISR data from June 1 onward, and starting today the resulting products, consisting of
data files containing geographically mapped and calibrated camera radiances as well as
geometric and other ancillary information, are being made publicly available. This is
a major milestone, and congratulations and thanks are due to all the individuals in
the MISR and Earth Observing Sytem projects and at the NASA Langley Research Center
who helped to make this happen.
Several months ago we put a moratorium on using MISR's deployable calibration panels
because of anomalous motor current readings which we attributed to interference with
thermal blankets. Experiments with the MISR engineering model isolated the most likely cause
of the interference, and flight data suggested that the problem could be mitigated by
repositioning the "goniometer", a mechanized device which is part of MISR's calibration
system. Our operations and engineering teams developed a new set of procedures for
repositioning this device through ground and flight software commands. Following this,
the calibration panels were deployed on April 27 and again on June 11/12, and the engineering
results look very good. Although we still plan to take a prudent approach to operating
these panels, we have lifted the moratorium on their use. Thanks to all who participated
as a team to solve this problem.
A few weeks ago Terra overflew Lunar Lake Playa in Nevada, a large uniform area where our
field team set up equipment to measure surface and atmospheric conditions. Using these data
we can calculate the light levels illuminating MISR's cameras, and these will be compared
to the results derived using our on-board calibration equipment. Further assisting this
process was a simultaneous acquisition of data by AirMISR over the same target. This promises
to be a wonderful data set for verifying the instrument calibration, which is fundamental
to the success of our mission. Again, many thanks are due to the calibration, operations,
field validation, and AirMISR teams for pulling off this logistically challenging feat.
You can see earlier status reports by checking the "News" link of the MISR
web site at http://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov.
David Diner
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