Optical System Design Alternatives For The Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer - Tilt (MODIS-T) For The Earth Observing System (EOS)

The Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) remote sensing system is designed to operate on the polar-orbiting platform and provide global surface sensing with high spectral and temporal resolution. MODIS consists of two synergistic sensors with a total of 104 spectral bands in the 0.4 to 14.2 micrometer range. MODIS-T (Tilt) is one of these sensors. It is a 64 channel imaging spectrometer with a required 10 nanometer spectral resolution (FWHM) in the 400 to 1040 nanometer spectral range. The system will have a 1 kilometer IFOV, a wide scan for global coverage in three days, and be capable of being pointed fore and aft of nadir by ±50 degrees. Optical systems analyses and trade-off studies will be discussed with respect to the science requirements. A preliminary baseline MODIS-T optical system design has been chosen based on these studies.