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  AIM: Exploring Clouds at the Edge of Space - A graphical view of the AIM satellite over Earth at sunset. Mission Overview  
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CIPS
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LAUNCH & DATA ANALYSIS
 
  CIPS: CLOUD IMAGING AND PARTICLE SIZE EXPERIMENT
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  Related Links and Information

CIPS Graphics in the Outreach Media Center

A graphical rendering of the CIPS instrument.

> Large CIPS Graphic

A graphical page about the CIPS instrument.

> Large CIPS Graphical Page

A diagram showing the AIM measurement geometry.

> Large AIM Measurement Geometry Diagram
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  • CU/LASP designs and fabricates the nadir imager instrument, CIPS, and aligns and calibrates the channels thereof.
  • Panoramic nadir imaging, 120 degrees by 80 degrees field of view (1800 x 800 km)
  • Mie scattering from Polar Mesospheric Clouds near 82 km altitude
    • Derive PMC morphology
    • Measure cloud particle size
  • Rayleigh scattering from the background near 50 km altitude to measure gravity wave activity
  • Multiple exposures of individual cloud elements measure scattering phase function and detect spatial scales ~2 km
  • Ultraviolet bandpass (265 plus or minus 5 nm) maximizes cloud contrast

Benefits of the 4-camera design:

  • Reduces overall complexity of CIPS
  • Reduces CIPS data volume by 33%
  • Reduces AIM data volume by a similar amount (CIPS is the predominant bit producer)
  • Lowers CIPS parts costs, subassembly test costs and mass

> CDE

  
 
NASA's Sun-Earth Education Forum Logo

The AIM mission
is a part of
NASA's Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum.

Responsible Official: James M. Russell III

Web Curator: Emily M. W. Hill
 Emily Hill