SPEXone for PACE

SPEXone is a compact five-angle spectropolarimeter instrument developed as a contributed payload for the NASA Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) observatory. Launch is scheduled for early 2024. SPEXone will enable detailed characterization of aerosols, such as their absorption power, composition, size and height. It uses spectral modulation to provide measurements of radiance and state of polarization in a continuous wavelength spectrum, leading to a high polarimetric accuracy.

The PACE mission will make global atmosphere and ocean surface measurements with the goal to understand and quantify global biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem function in response to anthropogenic and natural environmental variability and change. The PACE observatory carries three instruments. The primary one, Ocean Color Instrument (OCI), is supported by two polarimeters HARP-2 and SPEXone. SPEXone, in synergy with the other instruments, will allow the PACE mission to perform atmospheric correction and provide observations of aerosols and clouds and their mutual interaction.