Study on Solar Constraint in the Operation of COMS Meteorological Imager

Communication Ocean Meteorological Satellite (COMS) for the hybrid mission of meteorological observation, ocean monitoring, and telecommunication service is planned to be launched onto Geostationary Earth Orbit in 2008 according to the Korea national space program. A feasibility study on the solar constraint in the operation of the COMS meteorological imager (MI) is performed using the GOES imager hardware operation characteristics. The Earth observation areas of the MI are introduced and the observation time of the MI observation area is calculated. The sun light can enter into the MI optical system around the local midnight and impinge on the performance of the MI. The solar eclipse viewed from the satellite occurs near local midnight around the equinox. This study discusses the restriction of imaging operation time that should be considered in order to avoid the solar intrusion about local midnight and to keep acceptable image quality for the MI observation areas. This study could be useful to build the operation concept of the MI during the development of the MI.