Description: The prevalence of off earth landing missions both proposed and undertaken has been steadily increasing. With the proposal of missions, not only to Mars, but also to comets, asteroids and outer planet moons, the ruggedness and robustness of equipment must meet the challenges of ever harsher environments. As a part of these missions, researchers wish to analyze the materials which make up the surface of these bodies and search for organic material. Brimrose proposes to develop a novel, compact, fast spectropolarimeter that will be capable of operating in the short wave infrared. The analysis of polarized light can help discriminate and classify materials and identify objects of. Measurement of polarization state can also provide various characteristics such as surface properties, shape, shading, and roughness, and can be used to identify unique features that will allow more accurate discrimination between various materials than spectral data alone. Development of space-ready hardware and algorithms for the detection and analysis of polarized light in space based analysis applications is needed to enable high confidence material discrimination. The development of proposed full-scope spectropolarimeter will offer a dramatically improved optical solution for material analysis by performing fast spectral profile acquisition with an additional feature of complete polarization information.

Benefits: There are a number of potential NASA applications for spectropolarimetric imaging: Material Databasing. As more and more missions are undertaken involving landers, diverse and accurate databases of the spectral and polarimetric characteristics of various materials will be needed to quickly and accurately identify surface solid, liquid and gaseous materials Structural Validation. The spectral and polarimetric data obtained via 2-dimensional spectropolarimetric imaging can be used to view warping, small fractures and other deficiencies/issues that may occur in the structure of space based mission equipment. Various Missions. 1) In situ, non-destructive analysis of dust and icy surfaces. 2) Identification of organics. 3) Atmospheric radiometry 4) Rheology. Combustion Spectroscopy. The 2-dimensional nature of AOTF based hyperspectral imaging allows for area spectral data collection during combustion events. Non-destructive testing of space compliant parts. Spectropolarimetric imaging allows for the non contact, non destructive analysis of the surface of components. Qualification of time-sensative materials in space. Data models will allow the qualification of time sensitive consumable items in space. For instance, the potency of pharmaceuticals.

The spectropolarimetric system resulting from this work will primarily be important in anomaly detection, countermine research, and camouflage concealment and detection, and identification and discrimination of friend vs foe using taggants in military applications. Furthermore, such a fast system will have varied applications in atmospheric monitoring. Moreover, the instrumentation that will result from the proposed program will be immensely valuable for on-line process and feedback control and R&D in a wide variety of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, pulp and paper, biotechnology. Atmospherics. This device can help to facilitate the objectives of the Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) and the Earth Observing System (EOS). Chemical. For the identification of materials, blending / batching verification and reaction monitoring; Thin-Film. For bulk inspection of the consistency and quality of thin film manufacturing Pharmaceutical. For bulk inspection of capsules and tablets, chemical verification and purity testing; Food & Dairy. For monitoring of moisture, fat and protein content; Pulp & Paper – for monitoring of moisture, cellulose, and lignin prior to harvesting; Mining. For the examination of mineralogy parameters, mineral mapping and soil sampling. Aircraft. For the identification and location of surface stress and fractures in aircraft hull.