Brenda Marie Rivers
Raytheon Technologies’ intelligence and space business has received a grant from NASA to develop and test a calibration system prototype as part of an effort to improve the quality of the agency’s land imaging data.
Raytheon said Thursday the three-year agreement covers design, development and testing of the proposed Improved Radiometric Calibration of Land Imaging Systems on behalf of the NASAÂ Earth Science Technology Office.
The grant additionally includes funding for specialized IRIS components such as focal plane elements.
The system's architecture and weight will be 30 percent smaller and lighter than conventional calibrated imagers. IRIS will also have features designed to handle the blue to thermal infrared light spectrum, according to Raytheon.
Jeff Puschell, IRIS principal investigator and principal engineering fellow at RI&S, said the calibration technology is envisioned to improve image quality based on factors such as light response to support applications such as vegetation health monitoring.
The grant builds on the company’s work with NASA on the Advanced Technology Land Imaging Spectroradiometer effort.
