The ACX is the second BAE Systems has been contracted to develop for the mission to support environmental monitoring.

The instrument will help improve measurements of air quality, improve weather forecasts and help pilots avoid potentially dangerous situations.

The hyperspectral imager will take hourly air quality measurements across a spectrum of ultraviolet (UV) to visible (VIS) light. The high-spatial and temporal resolution measurements enable observations of rapidly changing air quality during the day, says the company.

Specifically, it will measure emissions and movement of aerosol particles, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, glyoxal, sulfur dioxide and ozone. Combining the hyperspectral capabilities of ACX with GeoXO Imager (GXI) and infrared sounder (GXS) instruments will improve weather data available to NOAA.

“The ACX instrument will deliver robust, practical benefits for the science and operational user communities, as well as the public at large,” said Dr. Alberto Conti, general manager of Civil Space for BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems.

“Not only will this instrument provide cutting-edge measurements of air quality, but it will also improve weather forecasts, help pilots avoid dangerous situations, warn hospitals of imminent air quality issues, and protect the lasting health and economic stability of our communities.”

GeoXO

GeoXO is expected to begin operations in the early 2030s and continue operating through 2055. A constellation of three satellites, it is meant, expanding on Earth observations made by NOAA’s current Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites-R series (GOES-R).

South Korea’s Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) and NASA’s Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) instruments — both developed by BAE Systems — are currently the only UV/VIS hyperspectral imagers in geostationary orbit, highlights the company.

Once launched, ACX will be part of an envisioned “geostationary ring” of satellites providing air quality measurements throughout greater North America, Asia, Europe and North Africa.

Image: NOAA – Smog over a deep mountain valley

See also: Nasa awards Earth Observation contracts for NOAA microwave sounder study