GEMS Instrument Completes Critical Design Review

The Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS). Photo: Ball Aerospace

[Via Satellite 04-06-2015] Ball Aerospace’s Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) has completed its Critical Design Review (CDR). The instrument is manifested on the Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s (KARI’s) GEO-Kompsat 2B satellite, which is the second in a set of two satellites for meteorology and space weather monitoring.

Ball Aerospace and KARI engineers collaboratively built the GEMS instrument, which is slated to be the first air quality sensor in Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO).

The spectrometer conducts scans in ultraviolet and visible wavelengths, monitoring trans-boundary pollution events for the Korean peninsula and the larger Asia-Pacific region. Aboard the GEO Kompsat 2B satellite, the device will provide hourly measurements of ozone, its precursors and aerosols to improve both early warnings for pollution events and the understanding of long-term climate change.

“The successful completion of the CDR for this scientifically advanced instrument allows the program to move into the manufacturing, assembly, integration and testing phase with instrument completion expected in early 2017,” said Cary Ludtke, vice president and general manager of Ball Aerospace’s Operational Space business unit.