Optical Transient Detector (OTD)

Authors
  • avatar
    Name
    Paul Bonnette
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Optical Transient Detector (OTD)

OTD was the first lightening imager in space. It was an engineering prototype for LIS.

On board MicroLab-1

Launched from a Pegasus rocket in April of 1995, the MicroLab-1 was a low orbit imaging microsatellite only 740 km high. The OTD was one of two instruments it carried. The GPS/Meterorology (GPS/MET) being the other.

More information

See Michael J. Peterson's website for more information.

I interned under research professor Dr. William Boeck in 1994 to help produce the data processing software prior to the launch of MicroLab-1.

Specifications

  1. Use software to remove false lightning data caused by electrical interference.
  2. Handle de-synchronization of the data stream automatically.
  3. Handle any data corruption automatically.
OTD