ON-ORBIT PERFORMANCE OF THE MICROWAVE ELECTROJET MAGNETOGRAM (MEM) RADIOMETER ON THE ELECTROJET ZEEMAN IMAGING EXPLORER (EZIE) MISSION
Marzo 25, 2026VICARIOUS CALIBRATION OF MICROWAVE RADIATION IMAGER ONBOARD FENG YUN SERIES SATELLITES IN YUNNAN FOREST
Marzo 25, 2026A. Graziani1, L. Salghetti Drioli1, M. Loiselet1, B. E. Lopez Zamora2, M. Bergada2, D. De Castro2, M. Labriola3, V. Mattioli3, F. De Angelis3, M. Gotsmann2, M. Riede2
1ESA/ESTEC, 2AIRBUS, 3EUMETSAT
The Ice Cloud Imager (ICI) is a conically scanning total-power microwave radiometer aboard the MetOp-SG Satellite-B series of the EUMETSAT Polar System – Second Generation (EPS-SG). The instrument is developed by Airbus Defence and Space for the European Space Agency (ESA).
ICI constitutes the first operational mission providing millimeter- and sub-millimeter-wave measurements for quantitative cloud ice retrieval, with 11 channels between 183 and 664 GHz, including dual-polarized window channels at 243 GHz and 664 GHz, enable global estimation of ice water path, effective particle radius, and ice cloud altitude, as well as atmospheric humidity and hydrometeor vertical profiles.
The EPS-SG mission will operate from 2025 to 2045, extending and improving the meteorological data record established with the first generation since 2006.
As for the satellite, ICI will be a family of three models which will fly on the corresponding Satellite B series of the mission.
The ICI Proto-Flight Model has completed development and environmental testing and was delivered for platform integration in 2022. It is currently installed on the Satellite B1 and it will compelte the satellite level environmental tests by end of 2025 and it will then be ready for the launch campaign.
The ICI Flight Model 2 (FM2) has been delivered in November 2024 and it is currently installed on the Satellite B2 and it is ealry storage configuration.
The ICI Flight Model 3 (FM3) will complete the envirmental test campaign mid 2026 and then delviered to satellite prime for integration on the satellite B3.
This abstract will present and compare the on-ground performance of the three flight models of ICI. focusing on the instrument radiometric performance assessed during the thermal vacuum test.
The test configuration employed highly stable targets for both cold-sky and Earth-view scenes. Data processing was carried out using the Ground Prototype Processor (GPP), which converts raw instrument measurements into Level-1b brightness temperature products and is designed to support both on-ground testing and the in-orbit commissioning phase.
The radiometric bias requirements—1 K for channels near 183 GHz and 243 GHz and 1.5 K for all other channels—were evaluated across a range of simulated Earth-scene temperatures and confirmed to be compliant. Additionally, the radiometric sensitivity of all channels was verified to meet specifications with margin under both ambient and vacuum conditions, demonstrating the instrument’s expected high radiometric performance.
