Temperature, Ozone, and Nitric Oxide Experiment (TONE) for the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) mission

The temperature-ozone-nitric oxide experiment (TONE) on the thermosphere, ionosphere, mesosphere, energetics, and dynamics (TIMED) mission consists of two ultraviolet spectrometers and an infrared photometer. A medium resolution spectrometer (MRS) covers the spectral region from 210 to 247 nm with 0.2 nm resolution, and a low resolution spectrometer/infrared photometer (LRS/IRP) covers the 235 to 320 nm region with 2.0 nm resolution, and measures the 1.27 micron emission from molecular oxygen excited by ozone photolysis. The Earth's limb is scanned by articulation mirrors which also serve as the field- of-view limiting elements. The TONE measures profiles of emission as a function of altitude on the Earth's limb. The primary measurements include profiles of Rayleigh scattered sunlight and 1.27 micron emission in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere, and fluorescent emission from nitric oxide in the upper mesosphere and thermosphere. The inverted radiance measurements will yield profiles of temperature, density, and ozone in the mesosphere, and temperature and nitric oxide density in the thermosphere with 2.5 km vertical resolution and 4.5 degree spatial resolution along the orbital path. The primary TONE measurements extend from 50 to 180 km and are fundamental to the science objectives of the TIMED mission. The broad capabilities of the TONE contribute significantly to the TIMED mission with a low-cost, highly reliable instrument based on a long heritage of space instruments built at the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. The TONE has heritage from spectrometers on Mariner 9, Pioneer Venus, the Solar Mesosphere Explorer, Galileo, and Cassini.