Uvsq-Sat NG, a New CubeSat Pathfinder for Monitoring Earth Outgoing Energy and Greenhouse Gases

Abstract

Climate change is undeniably one of the most pressing and critical challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. In this context, monitoring the Earth’s Energy Imbalance (EEI) is fundamental in conjunction with greenhouse gases (GHGs) in order to comprehensively understand and address climate change. The French Uvsq-Sat NG pathfinder mission addresses this issue through the implementation of a Six-Unit CubeSat, which has dimensions of 111.3 × 36.6 × 38.8 cm in its unstowed configuration. Uvsq-Sat NG is a satellite mission spearheaded by the Laboratoire Atmosphères, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), and supported by the International Satellite Program in Research and Education (INSPIRE). The launch of this mission is planned for 2025. One of the Uvsq-Sat NG objectives is to ensure the smooth continuity of the Earth Radiation Budget (ERB) initiated via the Uvsq-Sat and Inspire-Sat satellites. Uvsq-Sat NG seeks to achieve broadband ERB measurements using state-of-the-art yet straightforward technologies. Another goal of the Uvsq-Sat NG mission is to conduct precise and comprehensive monitoring of atmospheric gas concentrations (CO2 and CH4) on a global scale and to investigate its correlation with Earth’s Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR). Uvsq-Sat NG carries several payloads, including Earth Radiative Sensors (ERSs) for monitoring incoming solar radiation and outgoing terrestrial radiation. A Near-Infrared (NIR) Spectrometer is onboard to assess GHGs’ atmospheric concentrations through observations in the wavelength range of 1200 to 2000 nm. Uvsq-Sat NG also includes a high-definition camera (NanoCam) designed to capture images of the Earth in the visible range. The NanoCam will facilitate data post-processing acquired via the spectrometer by ensuring accurate geolocation of the observed scenes. It will also offer the capability of observing the Earth’s limb, thus providing the opportunity to roughly estimate the vertical temperature profile of the atmosphere. We present here the scientific objectives of the Uvsq-Sat NG mission, along with a comprehensive overview of the CubeSat platform’s concepts and payload properties as well as the mission’s current status. Furthermore, we also describe a method for the retrieval of atmospheric gas columns (CO2, CH4, O2, H2O) from the Uvsq-Sat NG NIR Spectrometer data. The retrieval is based on spectra simulated for a range of environmental conditions (surface pressure, surface reflectance, vertical temperature profile, mixing ratios of primary gases, water vapor, other trace gases, cloud and aerosol optical depth distributions) as well as spectrometer characteristics (Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) and spectral resolution from 1 to 6 nm).