Agreement to aid USU's optical-sensor research effort

An agreement between Utah State University and the National Institute for Standards and Technology promises to improve research in such diverse fields as climate change and biotechnology.

The memorandum of understanding was signed last week in Washington, D.C., in a ceremony hosted by Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah. Present were Philip Bond, undersecretary of the Commerce Department, NIST acting director Hratch Semerjian and Stan Albrecht, president of the Logan-based university, according to a USU press release.

The agreement sets up a partnership for collaboration "in the development and calibration of optical sensors for defense, homeland security, weather prediction and climate research," says the release.

Until 1988, NIST was called the National Bureau of Standards. Founded in 1901 and part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the institute promotes accuracy in measurements, sets standards and improves technology. For example, the institute works with atomic clocks, instruments involved in mammograms, semiconductors, and space sensors.

USU is a world leader in working with satellite sensors. More than three years ago, the university began building a 43,000-square foot, $8 million Calibration and Optical Research Laboratory at the Space Dynamics Lab. It was dedicated in December 2002. There, a specialized 32-by-11 foot tank holds liquid nitrogen, which cools down a test chamber to replicate the icy vacuum of space.

Alan Thurgood, director of the university's Calibration, test and Evaluation Division, said the division can calibrate satellite sensors. That is vital to ensure the data they beam back from space are accurate. Much of the work at USU involves infrared sensors, measurements of heat reflected from objects.

"You get different amounts of infrared energy depending on what temperature an object is," he said.

Inside the Calibration and Optical Research Lab, a chamber about 10 feet wide by 15 feet long is cooled by liquid nitrogen from the big tank outside. When the chamber is evacuated of air and cooled, it's about as close as you can get on Earth to the extreme conditions of outer space.

Then sensors will examine targets radiating infrared energy at known temperature. The readings are used to calibrate space instruments.

When satellite sensors give precise readings, they are useful for research. "From space you can look down and you get a profile of what the atmosphere is at different altitudes," Thurgood said.