TanSat, also known as CarbonSat, is a Chinese

Earth observation satellite An Earth observation satellite or Earth remote sensing satellite is a satellite used or designed for Earth observation (EO) from orbit, including spy satellites and similar ones intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, me ...

dedicated to monitoring

carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere In Earth's atmosphere, carbon dioxide is a trace gas that plays an integral part in the greenhouse effect, carbon cycle, photosynthesis and oceanic carbon cycle. It is one of three main greenhouse gases in the atmosphere of Earth. The conce ...

. It is generally classified as a

minisatellite In genetics, a minisatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain DNA motifs (ranging in length from 10–60 base pairs) are typically repeated two to several hundred times. Minisatellites occur at more than 1,000 locations in the huma ...

, and is the first dedicated carbon mission of the

Chinese space program The space program of the People's Republic of China is about the activities in outer space conducted and directed by the China, People's Republic of China. The roots of the Chinese space program trace back to the 1950s, when, with the help ...

. The mission was formally proposed in 2010, and work began in January 2011. It is funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and was built by the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem And Information Technology (SIMIT). TanSat carries two instruments: the Carbon Dioxide Spectrometer and the Cloud and Aerosol Polarimetry Imager. The Carbon Dioxide Spectrometer (CDS), also called CarbonSpec, is a high-resolution

grating A grating is any regularly spaced collection of essentially identical, parallel, elongated elements. Gratings usually consist of a single set of elongated elements, but can consist of two sets, in which case the second set is usually perpendicu ...

spectrometer A spectrometer () is a scientific instrument used to separate and measure Spectrum, spectral components of a physical phenomenon. Spectrometer is a broad term often used to describe instruments that measure a continuous variable of a phenomeno ...

which measures

absorption Absorption may refer to: Chemistry and biology *Absorption (biology), digestion **Absorption (small intestine) *Absorption (chemistry), diffusion of particles of gas or liquid into liquid or solid materials *Absorption (skin), a route by which su ...

at 1.61

μm The micrometre (Commonwealth English as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American English), also commonly known by the non-SI term micron, is a unit of length in the International System ...

and 2.06 μm, and absorption in reflected sunlight at 0.76 μm. The Cloud and Aerosol Polarimetry Imager (CAPI) is a wide-field, moderate-resolution,

imaging spectrometer An imaging spectrometer is an instrument used in hyperspectral imaging and imaging spectroscopy to acquire a spectrally-resolved image of an object or scene, usually to support analysis of the composition the object being imaged. The spectral data ...

which works in concert with CDS by compensating for measurement errors caused by clouds and

aerosol An aerosol is a suspension (chemistry), suspension of fine solid particles or liquid Drop (liquid), droplets in air or another gas. Aerosols can be generated from natural or Human impact on the environment, human causes. The term ''aerosol'' co ...

s. It makes observations in ultraviolet (0.38 μm), visible (0.67 μm), and near infrared (0.87 μm, 1.375 μm, and 1.64 μm).

References

Spacecraft launched in 2016 Spacecraft launched by Long March rockets Carbon dioxide 2016 in China Earth observation satellites of China {{China-spacecraft-stub Satellites monitoring GHG emissions

See also

References