Design concept for an optimized earth radiation budget sensor

The Earth Radiation Budget Program has the objective to measure and model the terrestrial radiation budget and obtain a better understanding of the climate and its changes. A multisensor, multisatellite system with high and midinclination orbits will be needed for implementing this program. Various approaches for conducting sensing operations have been evaluated. The present investigation considers a method of sampling with a unique multidirectional array mosaic sensor to fulfill the requirements of earth radiation budget measurements. Previous and present generation earth radiation budget (ERB) satellite instruments are discussed, and attention is given to instrument design tradeoffs and the baseline instrument concept.