MTI carries instruments designed to provide unprecedented levels of accurate information across 15 spectral bands (colors), only three of which are visible to the human eye. The non-visible, infrared (IR) spectral bands will allow researchers to measure the atmosphere between the ground scene and the satellite, and also to look for more subtle attributes of the scene. Specific science tasks will include analyzing surface temperatures, water quality and even vegetation health.

The satellite, scheduled to be launched into a low-earth orbit October 31 of this year from Vandenberg Air Force Base, has been at Los Alamos undergoing instrument calibration at the Lab's advanced optical and infrared calibration facility, a multi-user resource used by researchers across the country from a wide variety of research fields. The calibration laboratory is part of the Space and Remote Sensing Sciences Group, headed by Paul G. Weber, with participation from other Laboratory and external partners. To gather its image data, MTI looks through a 36-centimeter aperture and uses a bank of three sensor chip assemblies, each carrying 15 arrays of detectors. Each array contains either 208 or 832 pixels, providing MTI with nearly 17,000 tiny detectors, each no larger than the period at the end of this sentence. The 510-pound instrument is designed to be self-correcting in its data gathering, adjusting for the effects of clouds, water vapor, and airborne particles present in each image of the ground to ensure that data analysts have full information about the factors affecting images, exactly as they are captured. One enormous advantage of these arrays is that they see far beyond the visible wavelengths, providing researchers with a depth and complexity of data not available through simple visible-light photography. A standard photograph of a section of light-colored ground, from a distance, might resemble either sand or snow, but given the additional infrared or temperature data, the difference becomes clear. Different types of terrain, vegetation and other surface features become highly distinguishable when images in 15 different wavelengths can be obtained at the same time.

The initial Los Alamos task was to provide a ground calibration with sophisticated standard light and infrared sources, as well as calibrating MTI's own on-board light and IR sources, ensuring that the spectral imaging hardware operates at peak performance for its three-year planned mission. Any degradation of the on-board equipment will be detected, measured, and corrected for if the system is operating at its most effective. Calibration, in general, involves establishing a basic assurance of the accuracy and precision of each measurement - for example, if the satellite data says it has measured a ground temperature of 75 degrees Fahrenheit, a human researcher standing with a thermometer at the same location and the at same time would agree. "The accuracy that we're achieving here is pushing the state of the art," according to Steve Bender, calibration team leader. MTI is scheduled to transmit up to six stereo images during 5- to 10-minute daily downloads that would fill a modern PC's hard disk in less than a week, offering a wealth of information to its users. An alert observer could track MTI in its 340-mile-high polar orbit as it courses across the sky, depending on one's location. Data from the satellite will come to the Los Alamos Data Process Analysis Center for analysis, and from there will be distributed to the various users for each type of information. With uses ranging from remote sensing of DOE installations and other cooperative installations in the USA, to climate and vegetation monitoring, the satellite has its own MTI Users Group, with more than 100 members representing varied military and civilian agencies including the Air Force, Navy, Army, NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and universities. The Los Alamos calibration facility is unique in offering state-of-the art calibrations from blue visible light through the long-wave infrared in a single system. The calibration sources for this project were developed in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and they were calibrated directly at the NIST laboratories, thus assuring the highest possible accuracy. Using a specially developed thermal vacuum tank and liquid nitrogen cooling at -320_F, researchers were able to simulate the frozen, airless conditions of space, perfecting the satellite's ability to take accurate measurements during the MTI flight. Following the joint development with NIST of the highly accurate infrared source for this project, NIST adopted the design of the infrared source and will use it in the new NIST advanced national calibration facility in Gaithersburg, MD.

In addition to developing, building, calibrating, and operating instrumentation in space, the Los Alamos team specializes in developing and supporting instruments and measurements in other challenging environments, including aircraft deployments, sensors used in climates ranging from Antarctica to the desert, and sensors used to study volcanoes around the world.