Two of the GOES instruments, the Imager and the Sounder, perform scans of the Earth to provide a full disc picture of the Earth. To verify the entire scan process, an image of a target that covers an 18o circular field-of-view is collimated and projected into the field of regard of each instrument. The Wide Field Collimator 2 (WFC2) 1 has many advantages over its predecessor, WFC1, including lower thermal dissipation, higher far field MTF, smaller package, and a more intuitive (faster) focusing process. The illumination source is an LED array that emits in a narrow spectral band centered at 689 nm, within the visible spectral bands of the Imager and Sounder. The illumination level can be continuously adjusted electronically. Lower thermal dissipation eliminates the need for forced convection cooling and minimizes time to reach thermal stability. The lens system has been optimized for the illumination source spectral output and athermalized to remain in focus during bulk temperature changes within the laboratory environment. The MTF of the lens is higher than that of the WFC1 at the edge of FOV. The target is focused in three orthogonal motions, controlled by an ergonomic system that saves substantial time and produces a sharper focus.
The GOES Imager and Sounder instruments each observe the full Earth disk, 17.4° in diameter, from geostationary orbit. Pre-launch, each instrument's dynamic scanning performance is tested using the projection of a test pattern from a wide-field collimator. We are fabricating a second wide-field collimator (WFC2) to augment this test program. The WFC2 has several significant advantages over the existing WFC1. The WFC2 target illumination system uses an array of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) radiating at 680nm, which is within the visible bands of both the Imager and Sounder. The light from the LEDs is projected through a non-Lambertian diffuser plate and the target plate to the pupil of the projection lens. The WFC2's power dissipation is much lower than that of WFC1, decreasing stabilization time and eliminating the need for cooling fans. The WFC2's custom-designed 5-element projection lens has the same effective focal length (EFL) as the WFC1 projection lens. The WFC2 lens is optimized for the LED's narrow spectral band simplifying the design and improving image quality. The target plate is mounted in a frame with a mechanized micro-positioner system that controls three degrees of freedom: tip, tilt, and focus. The tip and tilt axes intersect in the WFC's image plane, and all adjustments are controlled remotely by the operator observing the target plate through an auto-collimating telescope.
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