MSTI-3
Miniature Sensor Technology Integration
The MSTI-3 sensor was built by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) as part of the MSTI program. The primary mission of the MSTI-3 sensor was to collect information on earth and earthlimb clutter in the 2.75mm and 4.3mm CO 2 atmospheric bands. SDL was chosen by MDA to perform ground characterization of the MSTI-3 payload based on a proven capability in measuring out-of-band filter performance. SDL conducted spatial and radiometric calibrations on the sensor and used interferometric techniques to characterize the sensor spectral response down to 1x10-7 of the in-band transmission.
SDL modified a cryogenically cooled chamber to house the MSTI-3 payload in order to simulate on-orbit conditions. SDL's MIC 3 was attached to this chamber to provide characterization sources for the MSTI-3 payload.
In order to collect the large quantity of data required for the spectral characterization in a timely manner, SDL developed a data collection system to bypass the on-orbit data storage system. The SDL data collection system was capable of collecting up to 25 Gbytes of data per day at a rate of 2.5 Mbytes/sec.
