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The Nihka flight was the first demonstration of the ability of the Ultraviolet Plume Instrument (UVPI), carried abroad the LACE (Low-power Atmospheric Compensation Experiment) satellite, to observe missiles in flight above the atmosphere. The UVPI is a small, plume-tracking instrument flown on the Naval Research Laboratory's LACE satellite, which was launched on 14 February 1990. The Nihka was launched from the Wallops Island Launch Facility in Virginia to coincide with a LACE pass. The two cameras of the UVPI were used to observe the Nihka in the ultraviolet. These cameras were a tracker camera, viewing over a relatively wide field and broad spectrum, and a plume camera that has a narrow field of view (0. 180 deg by 0. 135 deg) and can observe sources through any of four filters. A three-stage sounding rocket (called Black Brant X) was used for the test. The third stage, or Nihka, reached 190 km altitude and was successfully detected and tracked by the UVPI from a range of 448 to 463 km. The Nihka plume was successfully tracked for 3.23 seconds; 91 images of plume data (each 1/30th of a second) were acquired by using the first plume-camera filter in the 235 to 350 nm range.... Nihka rocket, LACE (Low-power Atmospheric Compensation Experiment), Ultraviolet plume instrument, Rocket plume imaging, UVPI., Prepared in collaboration with Applied Coherent Technology Corporation, Research Support Instruments, AlliedSignal Technical Services Corporation, Star Technologies Corporation.

The Ultraviolet Plume Instrument (UVPI) is a small, plume-tracking instrument flown on the Naval Research Laboratory's Low-power Atmospheric Compensation Experiment (LACE) satellite. The plume camera has a relatively narrow field of view, 0.184 deg by 0.137 deg, and observes sources through any of four filters with passbands of 195 to 295 nm, 200 to 320 nm, 235 to 350 nm, and 300 to 320 nm. The LCLV (Low Cost Launch Vehicle) was launched from Wallops Island, Virginia, before sunrise on 6 February 1991. The third stage, powered by an Aries solid-fuel rocket motor, reached a 117-km altitude and was successfully detected and tracked by the UVPI from a range of 450 to 550 km. The spectral radiance and spectral radiant intensities of the missile plumes were extracted from these images for the four passbands. Ultraviolet plume instrument, Plume tracking, Low cost launch vehicle, UVPI, Spectral radiance, Aries motor, UV, Spectral radiant intensities, Missile plumes, LACE Satellite, LCLV, Plume imaging., Prepared in collaboration with Applied Coherent Technology Corp., Herndon, VA, AlliedSignal Technical Services Corp., Alexandria, VA and Research Support Instruments, Alexandria, VA. Original contains color plates: All DTIC and NTIS reproductions will be in black and white.

The Starbird rocket provides the second demonstration of the ability of the Ultraviolet Plume Instrument (UVPI) to observe missiles in flight above the atmosphere. The Starbird was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 18 December 1990. The UVPI is a small, plume-tracking instrument flown on the Naval Research Laboratory's Low-power Atmospheric Compensation Experiment (LACE) satellite, launched in February 1990. The two cameras of the instrument, a tracker and a plume camera, use filters, image intensifiers, and CCD detectors to observe sources in the ultraviolet. The plume camera has a narrow field of view, 0.180 deg by 0.135 deg, and observes sources through any of the four filters with passbands of 195 to 295 nm, 200 to 300 nm, 235 to 350 nm, and 300 to 320 nm. The Starbird third and fourth stages, both of which used identical Orbus rocket motors, reached 90-km altitude and were successfully detected and tracked by the UVPI from a range of 596 to 483 km. The spectral radiance and intensities of the missile plumes were extracted from these images and made into contour plots. Spatial, Prepared in collaboration with Applied Coherent Technology, Corp., Herndon, VA, Allied Signal Technical Services Corp., Alexandria, VA, Research Support Instruments, Alexandria, VA and Star Technologies Corp., Great Falls, VA.

The Ultraviolet Plume Instrument (UVPI) is a calibrated, plume- tracking instrument flown on the Naval Research Laboratory's Low-power Atmospheric Compensation Experiment (LACE) satellite. The UVPI's primary mission was to collect images of rocket plumes in the ultraviolet wavelengths. The purpose of this report is to describe the procedures followed in calibrating the UVPI, to present final instrument response functions for use in subsequent data reduction and analysis, and to provide conversion constants useful for revising data values contained on delivered data tapes and in completed rocket plume reports. LACE Satellite, Ultraviolet plume instrument, UVPI, Calibration plumes, Rocket plumes, Ultraviolet.

The Ultraviolet Plume Instrument (UVPI) is a small plume-tracking instrument flown on the Naval Research Laboratory's Lowpower Atmospheric Compensation Experiment (LACE) satellite, which was launched on 14 February 1990. The UVPI's mission is to collect images of rocket plumes. Missile tracking in the ultraviolet range is advantageous because of extremely low Earth and solar background, extremely sensitive photodetectors that do not require cryogenic cooling, and very high optical resolution that is possible with optics of relatively modest size. The two cameras of the instrument use filters, image intensifiers, and charge-coupled device (CCD) detectors to observe sources in the ultraviolet, a tracker camera for target acquisition, a plume camera with a narrow field of view (0. 184 deg by 0. 137 deg), and four filters for data acquisition. Filters have passbands of 195 to 295 nm, 220 to 320 nm, 235 to 350 nm, and 300 to 320 nm. Rocket stages reaching 1 10-km altitude have been successfully detected and tracked by the UVPI from a range of 450 to 550 km for about 30 seconds. The spectral radiance and spectral radiant intensities of the plumes were extracted for the data by using a reference spectrum characteristic of micron-sized alumina particles at the melting-point temperature.... Ultraviolet plume instrument, Rocket plume spectra, Data processing methodology, UVPI, Plume observations from space, LACE satellite, Ultraviolet sensing, Ultraviolet plume data, Original contains color plates: All DTIC and NTIS reproductions will be in black and white.