Sun-, Earth- and Moon-integrated simulation ray tracing for observation from space using ASAP®

The Space Optics Laboratory at Yonsei University, Korea, in cooperation with Breault Research Organization (BRO) in Tucson, Arizona, have invested significant research and development efforts into creating large scale ray tracing techniques for simulating "reflected" light from the earth with an artificial satellite. This presentation describes a complex model that combines the sun, the earth and an orbiting optical instrument combined into a real scale nonsequential ray tracing computation using BRO's Advanced Systems Analysis Program, ASAP®. The Sun is simulated as a spherically emitting light source of 695,500 km in diameter. The earth also is simulated as a sphere with its characteristics defined as target objects to be observed and defined with appropriate optical properties. They include the atmosphere, land and ocean elements, each having distinctive optical properties expressed by single or combined characteristics of refraction, reflection and scattering. The current embodiment has an atmospheric model consisting of 33 optical layers, a land model with 6 different albedos and the ocean simulated with sun glint characteristics. A space-based optical instrument, with an actual opto-mechanical prescription, is defined in an orbit of several hundreds to thousands of miles in altitude above the earth's surface. The model allows for almost simultaneous evaluations of the imaging and radiometric performances of the instrument. Several real-life application results are reported suggesting that this simulation approach not only provides valuable information that can greatly improve the space optical instrument performance but also provides a simulation tool for scientists to evaluate all phases of a space mission.