MSX UVISI

The UVISI (Ultraviolet and Visible Imaging and Spectrographic Imaging) experiment is comprised of a suite of five spectrographic imagers (SPIMs) co-aligned with two narrow-field (1° × 1°) imagers operating respectively at UV and visible wavelengths and a similar pair of wide-field (13° × 10°) imagers. The SPIM's make simultaneous spectral measurements from 110 to 900 nm. The UVISI suite was designed, developed, and calibrated by the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) of the Johns Hopkins University for the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and flies on the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) satellite launched in April, 1996. UVISI has been used for characterizing optical backgrounds and making observations of targets of opportunity. CPI, under contract from APL, has been actively involved in the following activities:

Experiment planning

Data simulations

On-orbit calibration using auroral and lunar data

Development of the graphical user interface ALUICE for data display and data handling

Data analysis.

The focus of CPI's analysis efforts has been directed to limb and disk observations of aurora with limited attention given to dayglow observations. The primary interest in auroral data analysis has been to characterize the spatial and energy characteristics of electron and proton/hydrogen precipitation. The following publication illustrates our analysis techniques for interesting limb observations of electron and proton/hydrogen during a data collection event in November, 1996:

Strickland, D. J., J. Bishop, J. S. Evans, T. Majeed, R. J. Cox, D. Morrison, G. J. Romick, J. F. Carbary, L. J. Paxton, and C.-I. Meng, MSX/UVISI limb observations of combined proton/hydrogen/electron aurora, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 65, 2001.

Selected figures from the above paper may be seen on the Data Analysis - Satellite page.