The Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor (TSIS-1) sits on the International Space Station (ISS), and all of its instruments are now operational. With each instrument at full power, the device can now measure the Sun’s incoming energy.
“All systems are operating within their expected ranges,” says Peter Pilewskie, TSIS-1 lead scientist LASP. “A lot of hard work remains for the team to interpret and validate the TSIS-1 data.”
TSIS-1 arrived at the ISS just a few months ago. Since then, the team has been testing the pointing platform that positions the solar instruments at the Sun. The next round of trails were targeted at the solar instruments themselves.
The Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM) is one of its onboard sensors, which measures the Sun’s total amount of light energy, and will help scientists understand Earth’s primary energy supply.
The next sensor is called the Spectral Irradiance Monitor (SIM). It will record the distribution of the Sun’s energy over the infrared, visible, and ultraviolet regions of light. Since each wavelength of light uniquely interacts with Earth’s atmosphere, it will help broaden scientists’ comprehension.
“TSIS-1 extends a long data record that helps us understand the Sun’s influence on Earth’s radiation budget, ozone layer, atmospheric circulation, and ecosystems, and the effects that solar variability has on the Earth system and climate change,” says Dong Wu, TSIS-1 project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The TSIS-1 satellite will continue a 40-year stretch of observations focusing on the Sun’s energy. The instruments are designed to function for five years.
