Discovery and characterization of on-orbit degradation of the VisibleInfrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Rotating TelescopeAssembly (RTA)
2012
The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite was launched on Oct. 28, 2011, and began the
commissioning phase of several of its instruments shortly thereafter. One of these instruments, VIIRS, was found to
exhibit a gradual but persistent decrease in the optical throughput of several bands, with the near-infrared bands being
more affected than those in the visible. The rate of degradation quickly increased upon opening of the nadir door that
permits the VIIRS telescope to view the earth. Simultaneously, a second instrument on NPP, the Solar Diffuser Stability
Monitor (SDSM), was experiencing a similar decrease in response, leading the investigation team to suspect that the
cause must be the result of some common contamination process. This paper will discuss a series of experiments that
were performed to demonstrate that the VIIRS and SDSM response changes were due to separate causes, and which
enabled the team to conclude that the VIIRS sensor degradation was the result of ultraviolet light exposure of the
rotating telescope assembly. The root cause investigation of the telescope degradation will be addressed in a separate
paper.
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