{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/115655"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/115655","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Mission Planning and Instrument Design for Stellar Occultation Measurements of Lower Thermospheric Nitric Oxide in the Polar Night","abstract":"An ultraviolet instrument compatible with a CubeSat form factor is currently being developed at Virginia Tech for the purpose of measuring nitric oxide in the polar night through the stellar occultation technique. This instrument will allow the investigation of how the Sun and Earth systems are related via energetic particle precipitation in the auroral regions. The work performed in this thesis supports the instrument design and requirements development by modelling the stellar occultation geometry to identify orbit parameters and target stars that could yield nitric oxide measurements during the polar winter at consistent latitudes, to best observe the build-up and fall-off of nitric oxide. The orbit study was accomplished through the development of an open-source tool in MATLAB, the Stellar Occultation Mission Planner. The results of this analysis were used to model the instrument performance and identify the required narrowband filter parameters to meet science requirements. Additional studies were performed to explore system performance for a future flight opportunity.","abstract_html":"An ultraviolet instrument compatible with a CubeSat form factor is currently being developed at Virginia Tech for the purpose of measuring nitric oxide in the polar night through the stellar occultation technique. This instrument will allow the investigation of how the Sun and Earth systems are related via energetic particle precipitation in the auroral regions. The work performed in this thesis supports the instrument design and requirements development by modelling the stellar occultation geometry to identify orbit parameters and target stars that could yield nitric oxide measurements during the polar winter at consistent latitudes, to best observe the build-up and fall-off of nitric oxide. The orbit study was accomplished through the development of an open-source tool in MATLAB, the Stellar Occultation Mission Planner. The results of this analysis were used to model the instrument performance and identify the required narrowband filter parameters to meet science requirements. Additional studies were performed to explore system performance for a future flight opportunity.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Jones, Nicholas Alexander"],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":"Aerospace Engineering","degree_department":"Aerospace and Ocean Engineering","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Black, Jonathan T."],"committee_members":["Bailey, Scott M.","Harding, Leon K."],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023-07-05","date_published":"2023-07-05","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:53Z","subjects":["instrument design","mission planning","stellar occultation","atmospheric science","nitric oxide"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International"],"rights_urls":["http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["vt_gsexam:37779"],"render_values":[{"text":"vt_gsexam:37779","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10919/115655","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Black, Jonathan T."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Bailey, Scott M.","Harding, Leon K."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Aerospace and Ocean Engineering"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Jones, Nicholas Alexander"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2023-07-06T08:00:49Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2023-07-06T08:00:49Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2023-07-05"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Aerospace Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["instrument design","mission planning","stellar occultation","atmospheric science","nitric oxide"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["vt_gsexam:37779"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/115655"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["An ultraviolet instrument compatible with a CubeSat form factor is currently being developed at Virginia Tech for the purpose of measuring nitric oxide in the polar night through the stellar occultation technique. This instrument will allow the investigation of how the Sun and Earth systems are related via energetic particle precipitation in the auroral regions. The work performed in this thesis supports the instrument design and requirements development by modelling the stellar occultation geometry to identify orbit parameters and target stars that could yield nitric oxide measurements during the polar winter at consistent latitudes, to best observe the build-up and fall-off of nitric oxide. The orbit study was accomplished through the development of an open-source tool in MATLAB, the Stellar Occultation Mission Planner. The results of this analysis were used to model the instrument performance and identify the required narrowband filter parameters to meet science requirements. Additional studies were performed to explore system performance for a future flight opportunity."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstractgeneral","label":"General Abstract","values":["A small, light weight instrument is being designed at Virginia Tech to allow for nitric oxide in the atmosphere to be measured during the long polar nights that occur during winter in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. This instrument will allow scientists to explore how the Sun and Earth interact through space weather at high latitudes. This will be accomplished by using star light to probe the atmosphere while the instrument is onboard a small spacecraft called a CubeSat. The work performed in this thesis simulated the spacecraft orbit to determine which stars yielded the best measurements over the course of the polar night. Using these results, the instrument performance was simulated to inform the design of a filter for the instrument. Additional studies were performed to support the design of a future mission to fly the instrument in space."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"dc:format.medium","label":"Dc Format Medium","values":["ETD"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Mission Planning and Instrument Design for Stellar Occultation Measurements of Lower Thermospheric Nitric Oxide in the Polar Night"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Black, Jonathan T."],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Bailey, Scott M.","Harding, Leon K."],"dc:contributor.department":["Aerospace and Ocean Engineering"],"dc:creator":["Jones, Nicholas Alexander"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2023-07-06T08:00:49Z"],"dc:date.available":["2023-07-06T08:00:49Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2023-07-05"],"dc:description.abstract":["An ultraviolet instrument compatible with a CubeSat form factor is currently being developed at Virginia Tech for the purpose of measuring nitric oxide in the polar night through the stellar occultation technique. This instrument will allow the investigation of how the Sun and Earth systems are related via energetic particle precipitation in the auroral regions. The work performed in this thesis supports the instrument design and requirements development by modelling the stellar occultation geometry to identify orbit parameters and target stars that could yield nitric oxide measurements during the polar winter at consistent latitudes, to best observe the build-up and fall-off of nitric oxide. The orbit study was accomplished through the development of an open-source tool in MATLAB, the Stellar Occultation Mission Planner. The results of this analysis were used to model the instrument performance and identify the required narrowband filter parameters to meet science requirements. Additional studies were performed to explore system performance for a future flight opportunity."],"dc:description.abstractgeneral":["A small, light weight instrument is being designed at Virginia Tech to allow for nitric oxide in the atmosphere to be measured during the long polar nights that occur during winter in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. This instrument will allow scientists to explore how the Sun and Earth interact through space weather at high latitudes. This will be accomplished by using star light to probe the atmosphere while the instrument is onboard a small spacecraft called a CubeSat. The work performed in this thesis simulated the spacecraft orbit to determine which stars yielded the best measurements over the course of the polar night. Using these results, the instrument performance was simulated to inform the design of a filter for the instrument. Additional studies were performed to support the design of a future mission to fly the instrument in space."],"dc:description.degree":["Master of Science"],"dc:format.medium":["ETD"],"dc:identifier.other":["vt_gsexam:37779"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/115655"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:publisher":["Virginia Tech"],"dc:rights":["Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"],"dc:subject":["instrument design","mission planning","stellar occultation","atmospheric science","nitric oxide"],"dc:title":["Mission Planning and Instrument Design for Stellar Occultation Measurements of Lower Thermospheric Nitric Oxide in the Polar Night"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Aerospace Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science"],"thesis:institution_name":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:53Z"}