Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa, 2025, V. 22, No. 6, pp. 115-124
Refinement of microwave scanner/sounder MTVZA-GYa antenna system parameters
I.N. Sadovsky
1 , A.V. Klitnaya
1, 2 1 Space Research Institute RAS, Moscow, Russia
2 Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Accepted: 20.11.2025
DOI: 10.21046/2070-7401-2025-22-6-115-124
The work is devoted to the study of antenna system characteristics of the Russian microwave scanner/sounder named MTVZA-GYa (Microwave Atmospheric Temperature and Humidity Sounding Module, GYa — in memory of G. Ya. Gus’kov (1918–2002)) currently operating on board the Meteor-M No. 2-4 spacecraft. Periodic maneuvers of the carrier satellite with changes in the bank angle to the starboard side (about 25°) provide conditions for observing the solar disk and its surroundings. The Sun is a source of stable radiation, having small constant angular dimensions and high contrast against the background of relic radiation. This provides a unique opportunity to study the parameters of the device’s antenna system under conditions that are unattainable either during ground tests or during the normal device operation in orbit. The paper presents the results of an analysis of measurements of solar radiothermal radiation carried out by the instrument in the period of May 15 to 28, 2024. During this time, the solar disk entered the instrument’s field of view 22 times. The total number of processed radiothermal images was over 500. As part of the conducted research, assessments of the orientation of MTVZA-GYa optical sighting beams were carried out for all frequency channels of the instrument, also taking into account their orientation of the polarization plane. In addition to determining the coordinates of the maxima of the instrument directional patterns, an assessment of their width was made at the half-power level in two orthogonal planes. One of the main results of the work should be considered the construction of a complete picture of the relative orientation of individual frequency channels of the considered version of MTVZA-GYa. The resulting volumetric directional diagram of its antenna system will be the basis for improving the algorithms for georeferencing its measurements, as well as for determining the degree of influence of the antenna system characteristics on the solution quality of inverse remote sensing problems solved on their basis.
Keywords: remote sensing, microwave radiometry, microwave scanner/sounder MTVZA-GYa, spacecraft Meteor-M No. 2-4, orientation of optical sighting beams, georeferencing of remote sensing data, solar observations
Full textReferences:
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