The Polarized Submillimeter Ice-cloud Radiometer (PolSIR) mission is a 2-spacecraft distributed system of CubeSats led by Principal Investigator Dr. Ralf Bennartz from Vanderbilt University. Dr. Dong Wu, an atmospheric scientist in the Climate and Radiation Laboratory at NASA Goddard, is the deputy PI. The mission is funded by the NASA Science Mission Directorate Earth Sciences Division. It is a collaboration amongst several institutions including University of Maryland, Paris Saclay University, University of Baltimore County, Columbia University, University of Wisconsin, and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. PolSIR will help humanity better understand Earth's dynamic atmosphere and its impact on climate by studying ice clouds that form at high altitudes throughout tropical and sub-tropical regions. Specifically, identical pairs of the radiometers (325 and 680 GHz) will fly aboard two CubeSats (small satellites like a portable electric oven) to provide crucial information about how ice clouds act in Earth's climate system. PolSIR will utilize two non-sun synchronous orbits in order to sample the diurnal cycle of ice clouds.
PolSIR completed its System Requirements Review (SRR) in January and is working towards their Preliminary Design Review (PDR) by the end of September. Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT) was selected to provide the spacecraft bus and actively working with the instrument team.