A novel miniaturised atmospheric aerosol satellite instrument: developing a small form factor multi-angle spectropolarimeter

Aerosols, tiny particles in the atmosphere, impact our climate [1] and our health [2] through several pathways. These pathways include direct radiative forcing (cooling through scattering of incoming solar radiation or heating through trapping of outgoing infrared radiation), indirect radiative forcing (influencing cloud properties), and adversely effecting human health through inhalation. There are large uncertainties on our understanding of type and extent of atmospheric aerosol globally, and more data are needed and constellations of satellites with miniaturised aerosol instruments can complement larger missions by bringing higher resolution and greater coverage accessible through New Space platforms. Miniaturisation is an important effort across Earth observation technology development [3]. Thales Alenia Space UK Ltd (TAS-UK) and University of Leicester have a long track record of collaboration on space technology development, for example in concepts for new miniature air quality instruments [4]. This PhD will apply a combined instrumentation and data processing development approach to underpin optimisation of the TAS-UK Multi-Angle Polarimeter (MAP) instrument [5] for miniaturised aerosol-focused missions.